Slipping Away.
It hurt to breath, getting harder as the creature folded it's limbs up awkwardly beneath it.
Things were changing; bad things were happening. It could tell, just by the presence of the girl, everything had changed… For the worse. It was in the air, the Master's worry making all the new creatures fearful. Instead of their jubilation, the Master had become nervous and the new land had slowed it's growth.
He was uncertain.
It took another raspy breath, allowing it's dry tongue to flop out of it's mouth as it did so. Not long now, it knew that was just too true.
With the last few seconds of life withering away, it failed to hear the muffled footsteps of the Master against packed dirt. Feeling from far away the gloved hand that fluttered over his hairless body, avoiding the bloodied mar on it's upper chest.
It opened one blurry eye, watching the world dance as a silhouette blocked the sun from it's eyes. The hand gently skated down it's ears, along his jaw and circled to the base of it's head. The thumb moved idly as it felt the world turning darker still. It gave a strangled cry, kicking a skeletal leg to the pain that was nothing but background noise anymore, calmed immediately by the comforting shushing above him.
"She won't get away with this," A pause as the Master whispered secretly, circling a hand over his head softly. "Now that, she will pay for this." The voice was further away as it shut it's eyes, comforted by the great nothingness that followed.
Sarah worried the inside of her lip - even as she tasted the coppery tang of blood from doing it so often, the stab of pain for the skin that was now raw. She looked to the darkening horizon once more, listening to the uneven gasps beside her. She couldn't look; not that she didn't want to, just she didn't know how to help and she was sure Jareth wouldn't accept her help anyway.
She turned to him once again, lip still firmly between her teeth. He was sitting heavily against a rock ledge, hands on his knees and head lowered. She turned back quickly to the view. They were right outside the centre now, the walls that suddenly appeared from nowhere looked scarily alike the Labyrinth… And yet they were foreboding, dark and oppressive.
The black maze shifted incredibly slowly before them, where they stood and watched from a slight hill in a night devoid of stars. When her companion gave a slight cough, she turned again and willed herself to walk over. Slowly she took a seat beside him and tried not to watch his laboured breath, they way his hand was either balled up against his knee of grabbing the material there.
With a glare he sent that gave way after a few seconds trying, she studied his face with a sinking feeling in her stomach. The lines around his mouth had deepened considerably, his eyes not holding their usual mockery or jesting. The usual lines of his bone structure - the same lines that had made him so ethereal and alluring - now made him look half dead as his face paled considerably.
Sarah tried not to think of the creatures they had seen throughout the mutation - skeletal animals with emotionless eyes - as she looked to Jareth, but even she couldn't shake the feeling that he was changing.
She shuffled a little closer, finally releasing her lip as she did so and trying to ignore the sting from the exposed flesh. He dropped his head again between his bent knees, eyes closed and breathing heavily.
It had happened so suddenly, the walk throughout the day had been a light yet apprehension filled journey; both making easy conversation as they encountered nothing but barren lands and the odd cliff. With the two both reaching a hillside that blocked their view of the horizon, Jareth had stumbled as if hit into her side as Sarah steadied him. He hadn't said a word since then; allowing himself to be lead over to a high rock as he sat, panting and ignoring her frantic questions.
Sarah knew herself that she wasn't very good in situations like this; she had a tendency to panic far too quickly, jumping from calm to frantic in a heartbeat yet keeping calm on the outside. Right now, she felt like screaming, crying and possibly running in the opposite direction all at once. She didn't know what to do, how to help and that fact scared her more than anything.
"Jar-," she swallowed the lump in her throat painfully, hands locking tightly in her lap. He turned his head a little her way, letting her know that he was listening. "Jareth, what's going on?"
She ignored the pause that stretched on forever, ignored the way her sight blurred with tears that never spilled as he carried on gasping. With a sigh that spoke more than a thousand words, he shook his head pitifully; sending his blonde hair into a flutter. She studied his hair for a second, realising with a shaky smile that it was the most preserved thing of their journey.
Without thinking, she stood and swung her rucksack over her shoulder, grabbing the silver cup on top and jogging down to the lake by their side. Lake would be a strong term; it was water, but water that didn't move or have absolutely any flow to it whatsoever.
In no more than a minute she passed the cool container over, steadying his hand a little as he sipped. After a moment he tiled his head back against the wall, sighing a little as she lowered her hands. She turned as she heard a murmur from Jareth, eyes still closed as he shifted a little down the wall to lie fully on the ground. She followed without thinking, grabbing her hair quickly as she leant over his figure uneasily.
"What did you say, Jareth?" she said his name with a slight pause, ignoring the question of when it became so easy to address him so. He cracked open one eye to a slit, closing it almost straight away.
"We'll start forward in the morning," he rasped a little, lips hardly moving as Sarah dropped her hand from her hair and steadied herself properly against the ground. He wrinkled his nose a little as the curtain of hair wisped across his nose and cheek, otherwise giving no inclination of life.
She tried to keep her voice level, shifting her position and remembering why her back tingled so much with a new sense of guilt. "This is because of me, isn't it?" she whispered, feeling her throat prickle as it became harder to swallow.
He once again opened a eye, taking in her guilt ridden face and blood red lower lip as he did so. With a tiny shake of the head, he raised one unsteady hand and skimmed her cheek with the leather. She made no movement, didn't pull away as he shook his head firmly again. "Go to sleep, Sarah."
She nodded once, sniffing a little as she shifted away and onto her back. She stared at the darker Labyrinth, loosing sight of it as her eyes refused to focus for too long.
The air crackled.
The ground shook.
Sarah raised a shaking hand to the stone cave wall beside her, stopping herself from toppling over with the quakes. With a gasp she realised the waters below, swirling black and deadly as the ground shook more firmly. Rocks began to fall, sending dust and grit in a wind that seemed to come from nowhere.
Her boots were just poking over the edge of the cliff face, losing their grip by the second as the ground seemed to crumble beneath her.
Then the voice growled; a low, feral noise that sent a shot of fear throughout her body.
The owner was furious.
Without knowing why, she looked to her hands; bloodstained and dirt encrusted. She looked from the right to the left, freezing as she caught sight of something in the left. Absolutely covered in blood, heavy and cool. A chain dangled between her fingers, swinging in the wind as she rubbed away some of the blood.
She recognised the down turned horns, the sharp edges and sparkling metal.
"Jareth's." Sarah shook all over, not sure if it was the earthquake or herself anymore as she felt sick to her stomach.
The medallion, his medallion…
"Just look at what is to come, little girl." the male voice growled, clapping two strong hands to her shoulders and spinning her to the left; to a bundle of cloth in the darkness, something she couldn't make out until she realised the smear of blood on the wall, the shock of blonde hair under a thick leather coat.
"Jareth!" she shouted, voice being eclipsed by the manic cackle behind her back as she was spun once again on the spot. With one fluid motion she was tilted over the Cliffside, her toes the only thing keeping her from falling.
You did this.
She knew it now, it was her fault.
Something glittered in the swirling waters, something silver and welcoming from the darkness as she jumped willingly. She needed that... whatever it was, it was vitally improtant as she felt a jolt of hope.
Waking with a start, Sarah half screamed before clapping a hand to her mouth. She couldn't be making such a scene now they were so close to the centre, couldn't give the creatures around them a shout to follow. She felt the tears sliding down her cheek and over her hand, falling silently as she shook and watched the darkness.
She couldn't do this.
When the doubt starting to take hold, she turned to Jareth and realised his eyes upon her; quietly watching as she cried and quaked. The night was only just turning to morning, leaving them with a deep blue that wasn't as thick yet the same shade.
With a little exhale, he laid a hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her back down. She stilled a little as the hand went around her waist, the head that rested just behind her head as his breath fluttered on her neck. "I will not ask again," he whispered in a sleep addled voice, hand tightening around her waist as she shifted. He made it sound like a promise, a vow not to make her say anything as she sniffed once in the growing silence.
With a move that startled even herself, Sarah turned in their embrace and faced the fae man before her. Without taking a moment to think, she told him. She told him about the first dream; in the castle beyond the Goblin City, with it's vague sense of dread and fear. She told him about the slow realisation of the swirling back waters, how she jumped into them with every dream and the blood that stained her own hands.
She talked into his chest, wrapping a hand around his back and ignoring the sharp intake of air as she continued on regardless. She talked about the crumbled figure on the ground - Jareth - the blood, his medallion within her stained hands before she started to sob once again.
"Sarah," he began after a long stretch of silence, the only noise being her muffled cries into his chest. The shirt becoming damp as he stroked her hair, ignoring the hitch in her breath as she carried on. With a start she raised her head, looking to him with a spark in her slightly red eyes.
"Don't you see?" A slight pause with a hiccup. "I kill you, I kill everything," she paused to breath, speeding up as Jareth made to interrupt. "This is my doing, I'm the last one and I kill it all. I just know it, the way it ends. It's so final," The silence stretched on for a moment, neither speaking as Sarah's breath continued to catch. "It's because of me, I am the Mutation,"
"What?!" he suddenly cried, pushing her back a little to study her face, disbelief etched into his tired eyes and sharp features. Even in the dawn light she could see the Mutation, dragging away his life greedily and it made her feel sick. "Do not talk nonsense," he continued as she frowned. "We already know the Mutation is not your doing!"
"How?" she asked with a sniff, resisting the urge to wipe her nose and look like a complete child.
His face softened a little, hearing her tone of doubt as she found herself once again pressed to his chest. "You're a mortal, my dear," he continued after a pause, waiting for her usual complaint to the pet name and grinning sleepily when she didn't. "It's impossible, you cannot be the Mutation by accident," A pause as his voice hardened. "Someone did this on purpose; a malicious act that could not be done by mere accident, Sarah."
She nodded into his chest, inhaling the now familiar exotic scent; the moment before the storm, the familiar earthy smell of the Labyrinth and something that she couldn't put her finger on - something completely him that it scared her deliciously.
"The dreams," he said after a moments comfortable silence, only broken by the odd sniff. "Are whoever is responsible's way of distracting you, persuading you to turn back,"
"I wouldn't," she began heatedly, trying to forget the moments where she had contemplated such a move.
"I know, Sarah," A pause. "You wouldn't."
She blushed a little to their position; her hands wrapped around his back so tightly that she was surprised he wasn't complaining, his hand skating through her hair as she inhaled through his shirt. They stayed silent for a long while, neither moving as Sarah felt her eyelids dropping. With a final sniff, she settled her head in the crook of his shoulder, closing her eyes and missing the slightly shocked look she received in return.
They walked quietly, staying alert to the shifting walls and dark corridors that revealed very little. On more than one occasion Sarah felt eyes upon her, searching the area she found nothing yet couldn't put her mind to rest. She jogged a little to Jareth's side, eyes darting throughout the corridor as he seemed to become more calm by the second.
Turning a corner swiftly, he walked without glancing to their surroundings. Realising Sarah was no longer by his side, he turned to watch her search the new corridor before turning the corner. He smirked a little, heightening a brow as she glared coldly.
"What?" she growled, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so. The wind howled over the high stone walls, never touching them and cutting off nearly all of the dreary light from above. They had been walking for hours now, not once coming across any sign of life as the light died slowly.
"We will not see any creatures here," he paused a second as Sarah frowned. "The Mutation is like the Labyrinth, only backwards; instead of passing through the Labyrinth, you have to walk towards it first. Something you did in the first ten minutes of your visit," he said the last word with a little sneer, so ineffectual as she caught his exhausted stance and expression. "The creatures before were to stop us getting through, which weren't exactly impressive seeing as the Mutation is not yet at full strength,"
She nodded lightly, walking beside him at a lot more sedated pace as they passed a shifting wall without even blinking. "So, what will we find in the centre?" she asked uncertainly, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
He frowned for a moment, shaking his head a little in response. "I would not know, Sarah," he said with a smirk as Sarah huffed quietly, ignoring his gaze as they walked. "I've been thinking," he said suddenly, voice full of confusion as Sarah turned to him. "About this wise man," A pause. "The one you mentioned,"
"And the one you can't remember," she quipped, grinning cheekily to his quirked brow.
"Nonsense, my dear," A vague wave of the hand through the air, brushing aside her cheek with a flourish and an equally cheeky grin of his own. "I remember all of my subjects, it's just that I remember some less than others," Jareth ignored her light scoff to his side, jutting his chin a little before turning back to the woman beside him with a faint smile. "Did this 'wise man' go by that title? Or is it simply a name you gave him?"
"I never caught his name, Jareth," she frowned, trying to remember where the title 'wise man' had actually come from. "I was on a time limit if you'd care to remember," she laughed openly to his humble look and slight bow, forgetting for a moment the weathered and drained expression that passed over his face as he straightened. Without thinking she slipped a hand into the crook of his elbow, starling his eyes away from blinking unseeingly in his dizzy spell to looking down at her in confusion. "You would remember the talking hat - the bird - on his head,"
"Can't say I do," he replied evenly, grinning down at her and clasping one hand over the one resting on his arm. She ignored the slight leer in his eyes, shrugging as she answered.
"Maybe you haven't met him,"
"Impossible." he tried to sound affronted, walking through a newly opened wall with ease and slowing a little to step over the tangle of branches strewn across the ground in an intricate weave. "What does it matter anyway?" she took his hand, walking across the thick branch like vines below their feet. She slipped a little as she walked, grabbing Jareth's shoulder as she did so. They both stopped talking for the second, steadying themselves as the vines creaked ominously. With a snap, the vines recoiled below them quickly and allowed their feet to fall to the stone ground below.
Within the blink of an eye, Sarah realised the pressure on her ankles as the vines closed around her tightly. So tightly in fact that she hissed, ripping one leg free of it's bindings easily as the plant still tried to weave itself around her limbs. The plant seemed weak, half dead and yellowing as Jareth easily kicked the plant away.
When the vines were just reaching her knee, she felt Jareth sieze her around the waist and tug her free. She slung her arm around his neck, trying desperately not to think of his easily they had slipped into this familiar and comfortable relationship as he walked into the next corridor. Setting her down easily, Sarah blushed and pulled a weed away from her leg, throwing the weak plant to the ground as she turned to Jareth.
He was smirking lightly, smugly looking down to her obvious discomfort but not saying a word about it. "As I said," he said with a grin, actually offering her his arm and she took it easily. "The centre is not meant for protection, it must have been assumed we would not get this far,"
"How comforting," she murmured, grinning as Jareth gave a hum of agreement and a tired grin.
"As I was saying, it could have been a neighbouring land, sending out a spy to watch my tactics with a runner, the 'wise man' could have been disguised," he paused his musings, giving a half hearted shrug as he came to some form of a conclusion "It could have been an attack, even as far back as that,"
"Four years ago?"
"You can never be so sure," A pause. "With the Mutation, most of my subjects have relocated to the centre, closer to the City," he said with another frown, slowing his pace wordlessly and resting a hand to the wall. He looked pale and sick again, the look coming so suddenly that Sarah doubted her own awareness. "I've never seen this man," A shaky breath as he tried to carry on, halting as Sarah refused to move with a warning in her eyes. For a second, Sarah was sure he would pull her along regardless, that was until the tension left him face. Making him look so much older that Sarah nearly gasped, watching the way his eyes creased with a light smile seconds later. "Although, we are of course missing the simplest and most agreeable answer,"
"What's that?" she asked lightly, looking away as to avoid watching his little show. The mask was back in place, hiding every little sign of weakness away. After all she had told him last night, how she had confided in him and sobbed, he couldn't allow her one moment to help in return. "That you imagined him."She looked at him sharply, hating the smirk that slid so easily in place as she gave his arm a firm tug; watching with a satisfied grin as he stumbled - even as she fretted over his strength.
"I did not imagine him!" she looked away from his mocking eyes, the heightened brow and slightly pouted lips. "He was real, I swear it!" she said passionately after a moment, face brightening as she remembered the meeting clearly. "I paid him my ring, Hoggle was there, ask him!"
"I would rather not," he said with a twist of his mouth, looking thoroughly displeased at the mention of the dwarfs name as Sarah smiled a little. "And there is such a thing as 'joint hallucinations' my dear," he pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against, walking on but slowly as Sarah tried to study him for any signs of dizziness.
He seemed a lot better in such a short period, the banter passing easily as Sarah jogged a few paces to catch up. "Are you being a git, just to get on my nerves?"
"Why yes I am, is it working?" he grinned down at her, waiting for her usual sigh of annoyance and argument.
"Immensely," she said with a sarcastic bite, glaring upwards and ignoring the man's widened eyes.
"Oh good," he grabbed her hand, placing it back onto his arm as she frowned to his move. Jareth didn't answer to her confusion, merely squeezing her fingers before raising a brow once more. "I was worried, being out of practise for so long that I might be losing my touch," he looked down as she laughed a little, both carrying on a few steps in silence before Jareth spoke again. "What do you mean, your ring?"
"I gave him my ring in payment for his help," she shrugged lightly, frowning a second later with the lightest touch of annoyance. "Though 'help' is a term I use quite wrongly," she looked upwards again, catching Jareth's worried eyes that looked forward without taking in their surroundings. "What's the matter?"
"I'm sure it's nothing," he waved the question away with a gloved hand, ignoring her watchful gaze as she waited for an explanation… It didn't come as Sarah huffed loudly.
"What's nothing?" A short tug on his arm, ignoring the way it made her feel like a petulant child.
"Nothing." he tilted his head to the side, reminding her of an owl for a second with the fluid motion before she gritted her teeth and remained quiet to his teasing.
The man watched from far away, gazing into his crystal with fascination as the two figures walked arm in arm; laughing and joking, yet he could see the cracks. Could see Jareth's depleting magic, the face of a dying man who laughed and joked without a care.
His temper flared.
The mortal laughed, careless to her nightmares that took so much power to form night after night. He gripped the crystal more firmly, hearing a crack before the glass exploded in a shower of shards and fine dust.
He ignored the throbbing in his hand, instead concentrating the last of his power to the weakened fae.
The mortal who had been infected; a dormant poison that he awoke with the smallest of thoughts. But he didn't want the mortal, didn't care for her as she would die on her own; with no guide she wouldn't last long. He could feel it now, draining his magic that seemed to be pulled away into the Mutation day by day, it wasn't enough.
Soon though, the two would die and leave nothing to halt the Mutation.
He heard the discomfort in his mind as the poison started to work it's way through her blood, the healing magic the Goblin King had placed being manipulated so easily it was hard not to laugh outright.
Not long now.
He could redirect the poison, follow the link that the Goblin King had made so carelessly and poison the weakened fae. Killing him, and in doing so, killing the mortal.
Jareth stumbled yet again as Sarah halted the conversation, turning to him with wide eyes as he retched a few times. He bowed a little against the stone, feeling his vision swim with the new pounding in his veins. This wasn't normal, he was weak of course, but not that weak to fall ill so suddenly.
This wasn't a coincidence, this was the person responsible for the Labyrinth in the first place.
A sort of dizzying glee settled into his mind, making him feel slightly more relaxed as he looked to the beautiful woman before him with her wide, worried eyes. Worried for him, currently rubbing a hand over his back and asking in a whisper if he wanted to stop for a second. She looked once step away from tears, so he agreed with a stiff nod.
He laughed a little, ignoring the worried frown he received in return.
The thumping in his head didn't bother him at all, instead he listened to the blood singing in his ears as his vision started to blur into nothing more than shapes. He felt Sarah move a hand across his brow, sliding under his fine fringe with a shaking hand as she moved forward.
With a slightly leering grin, he placed his hands on her hips. Pulling her closer as she shook under his hands, he leaned heavily against the wall with his legs splayed to balance himself. "I don't feel…" he searched for the right word, trying to catch it in a mind filled with buzzing and nonsense.
"Well?" she finished shakily, a hand on his shoulder as she lowered the other to his arm. Ignoring the lazy circles that he made with a thumb over her stomach, the way the other hand settled move on her spine and eased her closer lightly.
"No," he laughed wearily. "I don't feel well," he said with a shake of the head, looking like a child as he pouted and slid a little more down the wall. Sarah grabbed at his arms under his elbow, not managing to steady him much as his feet reclaimed their grip on the ground. He smiled lopsidedly, looking through her and yet bringing a hand up to caress her cheek. Sarah froze, eyes widening as he wrapped a gloved hand around the back of her neck, pulling her forward swiftly.
Soft lips met the corner of her mouth, slightly parted in shock as he swayed on the spot drunkenly. She pushed away, eyes still wide but ignored as the pressure on her neck increased again and Jareth captured her bottom lip easily.
She felt him grin against her, a hand still on her hip as the other played with the hair at the back of her head. With the shock beginning to ebb away, she allowed her eyes to close briefly. Feeling Jareth tilt his head a little to the side, manipulating her response as his tongue slid against her lip slowly.
She relaxed completely, leaning a little forward… Jareth slumped completely as he lost consciousness, the only thing keeping him up being the wall and Sarah as they both began to topple backwards. The realisation that they were both still falling startled Sarah - expecting to meet the harsh ground a few moments back - as they fell through the seemingly solid wall and into darkness.
