"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 10
By Aiijuin
*Disclaimer: I don't own anything Jim Henson or Labyrinth. Gröeg was originally designed by Brian Froud and catalogued by Terry Jones in Brian Froud's "The Goblins of the Labyrinth". This fanfiction is rated M for some harsh language (which is only used by Toby) and adult situations.
PS: Please let me know if I messed up anywhere with the grammar. I proofread about a dozen times before I post my chapters on , but sometimes I still miss a few flubs. Thank you!**09/10/2009: Revised: 'Irene' changed to 'Karen', and chapter number discontinuity has been repaired. Grammar improvements were also made as needed.
Chapter Ten: You're Eyes Can Be So Cruel
Sarah didn't wait to be invited in. She walked past Gavin towards his study. Gröeg shrugged and closed the front door. Gavin followed behind her, inquisitively wondering where she was going unescorted. He didn't seem to mind. As Jareth, he was hoping she would drop her inhibitions towards 'Gavin' and reveal anything he could use to entrap her. Sarah remained silent and pensive. She looked around the study, as she had before. This time, she seemed to be searching for something.
Gavin quickened his pace and walked around her. Gazing within her eyes, he asked, "Sarah? Is there something I can help you with?"
Sarah's expression was unreadable, but a slightly amused smirk crossed her lips for a minute. "No," she answered and walked towards Gavin's desk.
She sat down in his chair and looked at the contents on the desktop. She fumbled through a couple of his file folders, but didn't really read any of the paperwork. She opened up the top desk drawer and pulled out an envelope opener, then put it back again and closed the drawer.
Gavin closed in behind Sarah. Towering over her seated figure, he looked down to ask, "Are you certain I can't assist you with something today, Ms. Williams?"
There was a hint of annoyance in his voice, now. She looked up at him from the corner of her eyes, but didn't answer. Sarah gave the room another glance and stood up. Her face was positioned very close to Gavin's face. The two of them were nearly touching nose to nose. Her eyes gazed deep into his. Gavin, or rather, Jareth felt entranced. Unlike her prior visit, he didn't back away.
After a minute of intensity, Sarah broke the gaze between them, and turned to face the French doors. She grasped both of the knobs and twisted. Pulling the doors open sharply, caused the wind to rush in and blow her hair in all directions. Her dress flowed like water as she walked outside to view the hedge maze. Instead of walking down the stairs as before, she stood at the carved marble railing, which overlooked the entire maze. Finally, she turned and spoke, "I think I've told you once before how impressive your labyrinth is, Mr. King."
Gavin walked up next to her. She spun to face him again and continued, "However, I'm afraid you forgot to bestow it with a solution."
Gavin smiled, as Jareth, he couldn't believe she noticed this. "Do you mean," he began to ask, "you can tell there is no ending, merely by gazing upon it from up here?"
Sarah turned her back to the hedge and leaned on the railing. "No," she answered, "I can't tell by 'gazing upon' it, but I know, it simply has no solution."
Gavin laughed, "My curiosity is piqued. How did you discover this, Ms. Williams?"
"Because it told me."
Gavin froze. He wasn't sure if he had heard Sarah correctly. It sounded like she told him the maze 'informed' her that there was no solution. He cocked his head to the side about to question her, but Sarah anticipated his inquiry. "Yes," she confirmed, "You heard me correctly, Mr. King."
Gavin's eyes opened wide and he turned to look at the maze. He put his fingers to his lips and gave a 'hmm' sound. Jareth was beyond words. This was a normal thing in the Underground, but not in the human realm. He suspected Gröeg was up to playing tricks again and, perhaps, spreading magic where it ought not be. Sarah walked past Gavin and came back into the study. As the day before, she sat down in the green velvet chaise. She folded her hands neatly on her lap and blinked several times at Gavin to let him know she was ready to talk. He hesitated for moment, as a feeling of irony washed over him. Jareth felt like he was being led into a trap.
He wondered, Could Sarah know I'm me?
Gavin closed the doors behind him. He straightened the papers on his desk and took a seat. He stammered, "Ms. Williams…"
"Please, call me 'Sarah'. It's very awkward to be addressed by my last name. I'm not a school teacher or a matron over sixty, so I much prefer being addressed on a first name basis."
"As you wish, Sarah. However, when I'm around your father, I shall call you 'Ms. Williams'. I don't think he'd find it agreeable to have his only daughter addressed so, personally, in front of him."
"Fair enough," Sarah answered.
Gavin sat forward and folded his hands on his desk like a pensive professor. He asked, "Now then, what did you come to inquire of me today, my dear Sarah?"
"Inquire? No, I haven't come to ask you anything. I've come to withdraw my warning. You needn't worry about Jareth causing you any hindrances in the future."
Now, Gavin raised an eyebrow in interest. Sarah was becoming more of a challenge with every spoken word. With her statement, she had already asserted victory over his true identity. "I suppose you mean that I have no possibilities of accidentally summoning him here?"
Sarah simply answered, "No. He's already here, Mr. King."
How did she know?
Aloud, Gavin asked, "Are you're certain?"
She didn't answer, but nodded and gave a one-sided smile.
Gavin could tell that Sarah was going to be unwilling to reveal her discoveries about 'Jareth'. He needed to know how she uncovered this information. He would have to coerce the secret from her somehow. He didn't want to use any more spells, at least, not the ones from Gröeg. He decided to do things the mortal way and use male sex appeal to charm her. He assumed if his affections were forward, and he behaved like a potential romantic interest, instead of a trusted friend, that she would respond better. He elected to become less chaste in his mannerisms.
All's fair in love and war, he snickered inwardly to himself.
He stood up from his desk chair, and strutted toward the velvet chaise. Sarah watched him move towards her. She silently anticipated his approach. He kneeled down beside her and whispered closely into her ear, "You know, Sarah, I've been waiting to catch you alone just to tell you how lovely you look."
Sarah inhaled deeply and rolled her eyes, as if to say, "How cliché." Instead, she responded dryly, "Why thank you."
His face dropped a bit. It wasn't the response he had hoped for.
Sarah returned her gaze out the French doors at the hedge maze. Her silence dared him to make a second attempt. This time, Gavin turned up the passion in his words, "The glow of your skin is positively alluring, and the stars in your eyes are absolutely divine."
Sarah moaned lightly and rubbed at her eyes. She turned to face him, and asked in a sultry whisper, "You're not very good at this, are you, Mr. King?"
Gavin withdrew. As Gavin, he didn't have the hold over Sarah as he did as the Goblin King. As a human, his words sounded tacky and outdated.
She began to stroke her pearl choker with her fingers and batted her eyelashes at Gavin. She continued, "Besides, I wouldn't dare go any farther if I were you. It could interfere with your mundane, peaceful lifestyle. That would be a pity, don't you agree?"
He had a confused expression on his face. Sarah had just rejected his advances with a warning. Soon, uncertainty gave way to fury within Gavin's eyes. As Jareth, he felt dejected, like long ago, when Sarah spurned him in his castle beyond the Goblin City. As Gavin he answered her out of character and snapped back, "Don't defy me, Sarah."
Sarah blinked calmly and answered between forced laughter, "Oh, but I will do what I must, Mr. King. In your best interests, of course."
"My 'best interests'?"
Sarah closed her eyes, "Although I withdrew my warning of the Goblin King's threat, I cannot guarantee he won't take future actions against you, especially if you try to throw yourself upon me like a tramp."
"A tramp? Just a minute, are you calling my advances cheap?"
"Certainly not 'cheap', but 'rehearsed' and 'predictable' would perhaps be my favorite choice words of your recent insinuations."
Sarah's talk was wearing away at Jareth's personality masks. He was behaving less and less like Gavin King, and more and more like the Goblin King. It took most of his will to contain himself from immediately challenging her as Jareth.
Apparently, he still didn't have any power over her.
In fact, he was losing this battle quickly!
Sarah had Gavin trapped like a bird under a cat's paw, and could have brought him to his knees, when suddenly, as if a light had been switched 'off', her personality, completely changed back to normal. The distant look in her eyes disappeared and her dark nature vanished as if she had just awoken from a nightmare.
Sarah put her hands on her forehead and smoothed her hairline. She asked rhetorically, "Oh, my god, what am I doing?"
King blinked. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but the air in the study seemed lighter somehow.
Sarah immediately sat up straight. She recalled that Gavin had invited her into his study and offered her tea. She couldn't remember what had happened after that point.
Of course, she was recalling her visit from the day before. Sarah tugged at the straps on her dress. She remembered that she had been wearing a graphic tee shirt and stonewashed blue jeans.
She felt naked.
She felt exposed.
Sarah looked out the window and saw the hedge maze. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain all of this to Gavin.
Gavin, thought Sarah.
She had completely forgotten her father's boss. What had she done to him? What had she said? She couldn't recall, but he looked upset as he knelt by her side. "Oh, Gavin," Sarah whispered, "I'm so sorry."
Gavin was still kneeling by the chaise. He knew something just transpired within her. He could tell by the tone of her voice, that he was addressing the 'Sarah' he knew. Gavin couldn't explain it, but apparently, she hadn't been 'her', since she entered his mansion today.
He could tell Sarah was upset and attempted to calm her by saying, "There, there, things are back to normal again. See? The sun is setting in the sky and the nightingale is singing its lullaby."
Sarah smiled sweetly, which vanished quickly from her face as she said, "Normal? No, nothing in my life will ever be normal, Mr. King.
