Chapter Eleven
His whole world was falling down, and for the first time in such a long time, he felt absolutely powerless.
"Damn!" Jareth growled, throwing the book whose page he had been staring idly at against the wall. "Damn! Damn! Damn!"
Behind him, his room laid in its usual state of disarray: books stacked unevenly on his shelf, his violin thrown carelessly on his dresser which was bursting with tights and poet blouses, his saxophone hanging perilously off the window frame whose window was forever shaded by dark curtains, his personal desk entirely littered with pens and papers, even more papers and clothes thrown onto the floor or the sofa or even the fire place mantle. Only his bed held any sign of care, sheets neatly folder and pillows expertly fluffed.
Glaring angrily at the fire he let his mind's eye flash onto whatever scene it wished, feeling bitterer by the minute. Kingly duties. His mother. His father. Needing to pick a bride. Loneliness. Absolute lack of freedom. No air. If only there was a cure for it all.
If only.
But there wasn't, at least, not one that would not lead to self-destruction, and Jareth had seen too much of that in his childhood to voluntarily follow down that same road. No, all that the great and mighty Goblin King could do was marinate in his own helpless misery.
"Soak in it until I go mad" Jareth murmured, burying his face into his hands.
The minutes ticked by, the stars began to diminish, and finally his eyes began to droop. He had finally reached the threshold of sleep when suddenly a gentle knock sounded at the door. Turning his head along with the swinging of the door, his miss-matched eyes looked aloofly upon his sister.
"My, my, my. Four times within a week's time, must be a record."
Magenta only smiled uneasily at that. She hung onto the door, her fingers sliding along the side, and her hair looked a dismissal state of disarray as her eyes gazed tenaciously on the floor. Suddenly, Jareth felt transported back to a time when she still believed in phantoms, ashamedly admitting that fact as nightly she asked her older brother to look under her bed for her.
"Jareth" Magenta suddenly gulped, before timidly meeting his eyes, "I have something to tell you."
Death. That was what Sarah felt like. Absolute death.
Okay, maybe that wasn't the correct word for it, but Sarah didn't know what else to use. She was tired of using miserable, or frustrated, or anxious, or stressed, or even depressed. She was every little bit of those plus so much more, and as she couldn't think of the perfect word to describe it, she was going to use to death.
"Ravie!"
Sarah leapt up in alarm as Copperpot exclaimed his happy meeting. She couldn't believe that anyone, especially Copperpot, could have found her here, huddled in the corner of an alley that she barely ever went through on any occasion. Yet, here he was, grinning at her like a child that Santa Claus had just given the thing they wished for the most.
Copperpot, however, felt his joy to be extremely suitable. He had spent all morning looking for this third best friend, searching high and low, so when he finally found her, he was so proud of himself that he could only grin at her for the first minute.
That happy grin, however, slowly dissipated as, for the first time, he noticed the dead look of locking up in her eyes.
"Hey Copperpot" Sarah said with a tense smile, "What's up?
"Wanna Color Tag play?" He asked, his voice suddenly drastically timid.
"I would love to, Copperpot" She answered with a sigh, "But I have to go to work."
"Oh." He said, looking upon his friend as she looked down, seeming so distant. Sarah was about to tell him that she was leaving when suddenly he exclaimed, "Would Ravie likey me to came with?"
Glancing at his earnest expression, Sarah gave him a gentle earnest smile and said, "Yeah, I would love it."
They walked quietly together as Sarah didn't feel like talking, and Copperpot didn't know what to say. It was all right, though, as all that Sarah really needed was the company. It, however, ended far too soon.
When they were nearly there, Sarah reluctantly sent him away and watched as Copperpot waddled back outside, never ceasing in waving good-bye. With a heavy dead sigh, she turned away and finished the last few steps to the Study's door and dully stared at the towering wooden structure. Promptly, a fearful stab when straight to her heart as she once again wondered: would today be the day?
Then, as careful as a robber, Sarah creaked open the door and peeked inside to see an empty room. With a relieved sigh, she slipped in and clambered up to the desk, looking upon a fresh pile that Marcus had brought earlier.
It seemed to be their new silent agreement, to do their work with as little interaction with one another as possible. Marcus would drop off the papers long before Sarah would arrive and would pick them up long after she left and never bothered to check up in between. Sarah guessed he felt that that was the only way he could cope with lying to the Goblin King.
He was another person she hadn't seen much of lately.
After nearly having a heart attack the morning after her little encounter with Lady Magenta, Sarah had been terrified that the Goblin King would somehow magically know that the woman had been her, but there hadn't been any confrontation, no questioning, heck, it almost seemed to Sarah as if the Goblin King knew nothing about it at all. Then again, he was barely in his Study any more. He hadn't even showed up that morning on that day, only checked in around two, and now two days had passed since and nothing.
Perhaps all really was safe.
Finding the most comfortable position, Sarah began to work, eventually finding herself wondering idly about yesterday when the Goblin King hadn't shown up to work at all. From the bits and pieces that she had gathered, Sarah knew that there had been a huge commotion throughout the whole Goblin Kingdom, but for all the colors in-between, Sarah was left blindly in the dark. So she spent the hour speculating on it, and as nine rolled around, Sarah became certain on the guess that the Goblin King finally found out that Fritzy had been messing with his clothes.
Suddenly, the door wrenched open, and lo and behold, the Goblin King barged in.
Sarah watched in wide-eyed amazement as he stomped to a bookcase, running his fingers against their ward's spines. He hopped from bookshelf to bookshelf until finally he must have found what he had been looking for, as he suddenly jerked an ancient looking book out. The Goblin King then turned towards his desk, his miss-matched colored eyes finally registering Sarah.
"Get out!"
Sarah knew better than to disobey. She hurriedly scurried out of the room, and her last peek in was of the Goblin King's gloved hand swiping the air, and the door suddenly slamming shut.
I wonder what that was about, Sarah thought, gazing intensely at the wooden barrier. Then suddenly, like a hidden stalking animal pouncing, a sudden intense wave of fury towards him became ablaze within her. Sarah stood there with clenched fist; glaring at the door until, "Go home, Ravie."
Marcus' voice pulled her out of her trance, and turning her head over her shoulder, caught him standing there, for once empty handed, giving her a sharp look.
"Oh, talking to me now?" She snapped, "And what do you know about anything anyway?"
"More than you know." He said this sadly, looking so dejected as he gazed detachedly on the floor, that Sarah was absolutely speechless. "Now go home."
He left too quickly for Sarah to do anything else but follow his advice, and, as it would turn out, it was exactly the place to be.
"Ravie! Yous home!" Mimion exclaimed in alarm as Sarah walked through the door. Copperpot and Fifo quickly leapt to their feet, looking equally alarmed as she.
"Yeah, His Majesty let me go early" Sarah said cautiously.
She began thinking of leaving when Copperpot suddenly cried out, "Oh! Hurrah! Nows Ravie plays too; every fours of we plays color tag now. Yay!"
Mimion looked at her shyly and asked "Yous want too?"
"Yeah," a somewhat surprised Sarah found herself answering, "Yeah, I really do!"
"Yays!" Copperpot exclaimed, snatching up a basket and jumping up and down, "Lets go!"
So they traveled out of the city and into the woods past the field of forgotten junk. As they did so Sarah had sunk back into her aloof self, listening halfheartedly as Copperpot prattled off pleasantries, and Mimion replied. That is, until Fifo abruptly remarked:
"Can yous belief tat runner!"
"Me knows! Very coo-coo!" Mimion agreed.
"Runner?" Sarah asked in bewilderment.
"Yeahs! You not know?" Mimion said in shock.
Sarah shook her head, and Fifo pompously replied, "Runner! Ravie! Runner! Thats aboveground boy who wish small aboveground thing aways! Kingy let Fierys has him!"
"What!" Sarah exclaimed in horror, "The Fierys actually took off his head!"
Mimion nodded her head in fright.
"And the Goblin King did nothing!"
Mimion shook her head in fright.
"How could he?" Sarah angrily exploded, "How could he let that happen? That poor kid! Is the Goblin King such a monster that—"
Suddenly, a branch appeared out of nowhere, striking Sarah harshly against the face. An angry buzzing appeared in her ear as Sarah weakly rubbed her head and looked upon a shocked Mimion and Copperpot.
"Yous cants said tat on Kingy." Copperpot whispered in horror.
Sarah grudgingly shrugged, and her eye caught Fifo giving her a half closed interested glare.
"What was the boy even running for?" Sarah asked, deciding to steer the conversation to a safer ground. The group started walking again, and Fifo snorted:
"Which theys all times run for: for baby."
"A baby." Sarah said in a mumble before she thought of something: "Hey! Has a runner ever won?"
All three of them laughed.
"Nopes!"
"Course not!"
"No-No!"
"Then" Sarah started eagerly, "Where do all the-"
"We's here!" Mimion exclaimed, cutting off Sarah who felt a tad bit cheated.
She swallowed that frustration, however, as the bases we being decided; she pushed it aside as Copperpot, customarily with his 'bad luck', was chosen to be it; and she brushed it away as Fifo suddenly screamed: Go!"
Funny enough, for that half an hour, Sarah actually forgot her troubles.
"Ravie! I catches you!" Mimon cried out as Sarah leapt into a bush.
"Na-huh!" Sarah laughed, rushing away.
"No fair! Go back!" Mimion laughed, chasing after her.
Sarah simply laughed, looking over her shoulder to see a furious Mimon running behind her. She was too busy taunting Mimion that Sarah failed to notice the large knotted root just ahead of her, and down she went with a crash.
"Me has yous now!" Mimion cried out with a giggle. Sarah laughed too until:
Poof!
Like watching a mouse, Sarah saw Mimion skid to a halt, looking up at Sarah in absolute horror. Sarah looked down at her in agony, but before she could spit out a syllable, Mimion race off with a squeak.
"No! Mimion!" Sarah shouted, trying to awkwardly clamber up onto her now very long legs, "Come back! It's me! It's still me! No. Mimion..."
Pain suddenly shot through her and Sarah screamed out, fumbling backwards and tripping over a large shrub.
"I can't believe you missed your daughter's dance recital! Really, Kate, I can't believe you could be this selfish!"
"Now Sarah, promise not to tell daddy. He wouldn't like it if I got you a new toy. But you want the bear, don't you Sarah?"
"I'm just spending some time with my daughter, Rob! Why do you keep look at me as if I'm the bad guy!"
"Don't worry, sweetie. Things won't be like this forever. It's just Daddy and Mommy are having a rough patch."
"Sarah, everything is okay. Nothing's wrong. I promise."
"Mommy. Daddy. I didn't mean to make you fight. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"
Sarah blinked her wet eyes rapidly, trying to shake the receding pain and memories away.
"Just take deep breaths." Sarah breathed, "Just take deep breaths and everything will be fine."
Everything did eventually receded away, and Sarah began to sit up.
"Need a hand?"
"Yes. Thank you." Sarah breathed, slipping her hand in theirs.
Only then did she look up, and instantly try to pull it back, but it was too late. He quickly tightened his hold, and the Goblin King eye's narrowed as he smiled wickedly at his catch.