A/N: Thanks to Kaytori for the idea on how to help Little One! (Along with her help on other things.) We're drawing closer to the end now, and I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far.
Disclaimer: I have yet to gain ownership of the Labyrinth or it's characters.
Chapter Eleven: Youth
Once he woke, Jareth took Little One and Sarah for a walk through the castle. He kept them in the light, so that there would be less shadow around the younger of the two.
Around noon, they found themselves in the Escher room.
Sarah was very pleased at the confirmation of the rooms continued existence.
"So, Little One, have you thought of your riddle much?" Jareth asked, and Sarah turned to watch him curiously.
"Yeah, I have, and I still don't get it." Little One muttered, kicking at a stair.
"Would you mind reciting it for us?" Jareth said from above them. Sarah turned her head up to watch him some more, but he'd already walked out of sight. The silly king found far too much enjoyment in the strange way gravity didn't work in the room full of stairs.
Little One cleared her throat, and Sarah turned back to her.
"I am only one color, but not one size,
I am stuck on the ground yet I easily fly,
I am present in the sun but not in the rain
I am doing no harm and feeling no pain.
What am I?"
Jareth reappeared on the staircase beside them, humming.
"Yes, that's a tricky little number, but I think it'll be easier for you than most. Arcadia gave you a hint after all."
Sarah could sense Little One's confusion as the child spoke.
"But all she did was make me into this." The girl exclaimed, gesturing towards her body, but Jareth would say no more. He simply smiled and gestured for them to follow him as he vanished up another staircase. The resulting game of hide-and-seek was mildly exhilarating, especially once they realized that Jareth wasn't very patient. If they took to long to find him, he'd jump out and give a little shout before moving to a new place.
Eventually a goblin came searching for him, squeaking something about complications with the decorations for the ball, and Jareth showed the girls back to Sarah's room before disappearing to take care of whatever the problem was. Little One settled deep in her own thoughts, though she wasn't content to stay in Sarah's room for long. Soon they went hunting for the mirror into the library again. They, instead, found a room of lost and broken things, which they explored curiously. It was beautiful, in a tragic way. Tangled wind chimes hung from the high ceiling, and every now and then they'd give a faint jingle even though there was no wind. There were old toys and trinkets laying about, tangled jewelry and long forgotten journals. The walls were lined with broken mirrors and the room was so large that the other side could not be seen. Around dusk, Sarah felt faint, and Little One had to assist her back to her rooms.
"Are you okay, Miss Sarah?" The girl asked, as she helped settle the weak woman on her bed. Sarah's eyes crinkled placidly, and she shrugged.
No, she wasn't even a little okay.
"Should I fetch the king?"
At Sarah's vehement shake of her head, the child settled back, unsure of what she could do. It was clear the mask was taking it's toll.
"I'm sorry this happened to you." Little One whispered.
Sarah found her book in the bed and wrote a short response.
'I'm sorry it happened to you, too.'
Little One stayed until Sarah was asleep, and then she left. Jareth entered Sarah's room around 13'O'clock and settled next to her, watching the new crack etch itself into her mask.
"How you turn my world, you precious thing." He murmured. Not the right words, but enough that the tossing Sarah was beginning to do settled, and she eased back into a peaceful sleep.
Words have power. The right ones can even break curses, or defeat kings.
On Sarah's sixth day in the Underground- only seven days left- she found herself in a new part of the garden. Little One explained that it belonged to the goblin queen, should one ever rise, and had been quite overgrown when Sarah arrived. It still had a good deal of overgrowth, Sarah noted, but it did look like someone had tried to care for it recently. There were no weeds, and the grass was a reasonable height.
"Hoggle and I plan to work on it some more once I break my curse." Little One explained, and Sarah's eyes crinkled in joy at her new friend and her old friend forming a bond.
'Have you thought much about what Jareth said?' Sarah wrote, and the child sighed.
"Yeah, and it doesn't make sense. Ow!" She slapped at a tendril of shadow that had broken away from the others to jab her.
"They're getting out of control." She muttered. "Damnable shadows."
Then she blinked, and looked at Sarah.
"That's all Arcadia did, is make me a shadow. Was that the hint?"
Sarah said nothing for fear of bending the rule too far, and the child seemed to accept her lack of an answer as an answer in itself.
"I am only one color, but not one size,
I am stuck on the ground yet I easily fly,
I am present in the sun but not in the rain
I am doing no harm and feeling no pain.
What am I?"
Little One stared at her hand, formed completely of shadow, and then at the writhing shadows that followed her.
"Oh my Gods, has it been right in front of me the entire time?" She whispered, then she laughed. "What am I? I am a shadow, of course. The answer is a shadow, isn't it?"
She looked at Sarah hopefully, and then gasped as the shadows following her retracted with a hissing noise. Well, Arcadia wasn't going to be happy. But before there was time to celebrate, Little One fell backwards and into the fountain. Sarah moved quickly, dragging the unconscious girl- who was still very much a shadow- from the water. Seeing as she did not have a mouth to call for help, Sarah settled for carrying the girl piggyback style back to the castle.
If she was right about the time, Jareth would be holding court, so Sarah headed towards the large throne room,which the garden door was thankfully close to today. The girl on her back seemed to grow heavier with each step.
When she pushed through the- in her opinion- far too large double doors that lead into the throne room, Sarah found herself immensely relieved at the sight of Jareth on the throne, in full Goblin King regalia. He made for an intimidating sight, and the group of faeries that Sarah had yet to meet seemed to agree, but at that moment Sarah didn't care what he was wearing.
He could have been stark naked and she wouldn't have faltered in her step.
The Champion of the Labyrinth marched right up to the steps of the Goblin King's throne,shoving a few stubborn fey aside, and gently deposited Little One at Jareth's feet. Jareth stood, ignoring the astonished and mildly appalled whispering of the fey in his court. A few spoke quietly and angrily about the bold young woman who'd dared interrupt the court, but others voiced concern for Little One, whom they had met before. Most of them were just visitors from other courts trying to ensure a place at the ball.
"Sarah? What is wrong?" The king asked before causing the court fey to gasp in astonishment as he knelt beside the clearly shaken woman.
Sarah scribbled in her book quickly as Jareth turned Little One's head towards him.
'She solved it! We were in the garden and she solved it, and then she just collapsed.' Sarah wrote, her hand trembling so badly that the words were barely legible.
Jareth stood up, staring at the confused and stunned fey in the room.
"Court is to end early today. I apologize for the inconvenience, any wishing private words with me may stay and await my return."
Then he scooped the shadow child into his arms and motioned for Sarah to follow him from the room.
Arcadia smiled over her meal, enjoying the feeling of her skin stretching without the unpleasant sensation of cracks shifting. The longer Sarah withered under Arcadia's curse, the better the dark fey felt.
Arcadia finished the meal before standing. One of her servants moved in to clear the plates and was knocked to the floor at once by the evil woman's left hand. She stood without a sound and continued her task mindlessly. Arcadia grinned as she knocked her to the ground again. This game continued until Arcadia grew bored and exited the room, leaving the girl's face a bloodied and bruised mess. But still, she continued her task.
Once she reached her rooms Arcadia conjured a crystal. She settled into a large arm chair and propped her feet on the girl who knelt the fastest. The other two would feel pain for not being fast enough.
The dark faerie peered into her crystal, willing it to show her the child. For the first time in seven years, it would not do so. That could only mean that the girl was no longer in Arcadia's grasp. The crystal shattered, shards of it landing on the unmoving servant beneath her, and Arcadia stood and stormed from her room and onto the balcony. She stared out into the dark for a long moment before tipping her head back and releasing an awful scream. The shadows and darkness around her writhed and stretched, caressing her body.
"You'll regret your treachery yet, child." She hissed, before stalking back inside. "At the ball, you'll all regret angering me."
The sun set without Little One stirring. Sarah stayed by her side in the infirmary all evening, grasping her small hand firmly. Jareth said he could find nothing wrong with the child, and that maybe a curse that had been in place for so long simply took time to fade, but Sarah wouldn't leave her side. He'd called the court physician in too, and the man had been unable to wake the poor child. Felix, Sarah's cat, had eventually appeared and curled on the shadow girl's chest.
Sarah hadn't seen her cat in a while. His presence calmed Sarah a bit, for which she was thankful.
Once the sun was completely set, Jareth insisted Sarah return to her rooms and get some sleep. When she refused, he told her to at least nap in the bed beside Little One. Sarah still seemed unsure, and Jareth was becoming impatient.
"She will still be there in the morning, Sarah. You look exhausted."
And that much was true. Sarah felt drained and weak, a dull ache settling deep within her skull.
Everything was going wrong.
She hugged Jareth then, before he could leave her, and he stiffened in shock before slowly wrapping his arms around her as well. She was asleep in his arms a moment later, and he gently lowered her to the bed before leaving the room to see to the court fey he'd rudely abandoned earlier. He would need to do a few favors to make up for that particular rudeness, as holding court and answering all questions was his duty as a king. But Jareth knew just the right things to do and words to say to earn forgiveness in the eyes of those fey he'd offended.
If only he knew the right words to free Sarah from her curse.
If only he knew he'd thought those very words again and again, always in regards to her.
If only he knew.
I'm gonna just pass out now.