For Keeps
Sarah's been out of the Labyrinth for 6 month, and her seemingly instant maturity hasn't gone unnoticed. When Jareth shows up, seeking to understand how she beat him, things progress down a path neither could have anticipated. JS
Disclaimer- All Standard Disclaimers Apply
Chapter Fourteen:
"Oh, my God! Quick! Get the pan!"
"Stop shouting at me!"
"Just do it!" Sarah shouted frantically at her even more frantic mother. The chocolate in the pan had melted, but the fire beneath had grown a little too hot. It was bubbling now in the double boiler, and steam was escaping around the top of the pot rather forcefully. Hot, popping chocolate bubbles hitting your skin are just a little bit on the painful side. Linda grabbed the handle and lifted the top pot off of the double boiler. In a few seconds, it instantly grew cooler, and the bubbling stopped. "Thank God," sighed Sarah. Linda brought the pot over to the counter that Sarah was standing by and held it above the cookie sheet that was filled with shaved ice. Sarah drew a curly cue deep in the ice, and Linda poured the liquefied chocolate into the curly cue, allowing it to fill all the way to the top.
"Okay, your turn," Linda said, handing the chocolate filled pot to Sarah. Linda drew a heart and hollowed it out. Sarah poured the chocolate in so that it was filled solid with the chocolate.
"God, I missed this. We didn't keep this tradition at home. Dad's gonna be so jealous when I bring some back," Sarah said gleefully as they switched again. Sarah drew a seashell and hollowed it out.
"Why didn't you keep it?"
"I don't know. Maybe Irene just didn't like the idea of it. Who knows? She only thinks about herself," Sarah replied.
"Sarah, that's harsh, and you know it's not true," Linda reprimanded.
"Well, maybe," she sighed as they switched turns again. "Still, all she does is- is-" she paused as she tried to think of what exactly Irene did, "She seems to think that my teenage years should be the same as hers were. It's like she doesn't understand that our situations are totally different!"
"Well, how could she? She doesn't know about the Labyrinth or about Jareth," Linda replied.
"I know. I just meant that even before that she was trying to force her life onto me. The night that I ran the Labyrinth she told me that I should have dates at my age! I was fifteen! Guys at fifteen can't even drive!" Sarah exclaimed as they switched turns. Linda sighed.
"Sarah. It's not like it matters. You're going to be seventeen in a few months, and then you'll be in college. Besides, you can't blame a person for how they are," Linda replied.
"That's exactly what I was thinking before I came here…" Sarah thought. "I know," she sighed, "it's just really annoying."
"So suck it up. Be a tough broad," Linda grinned as they switched again.
Sarah sat down next to Michelle, who was sitting across from Stephen, who was sitting next to Darius in a booth at the local coffee shop. They were all dressed fancier than the average casual dress a coffee shop would normally call for. However, it was only because they had all just come back from a Valentine's Day double date. Sarah tucked the pink fabric of her dress under her thigh. It was the pink Prada dress she had worn over Thanksgiving with her mom. Michelle had on a similar dress, but it was a non-designer royal blue. Sarah clutched her insulated paper cup, filled with vanilla hazelnut coffee, and crossed her ankles under the table.
"Sooo… is there anything else you guys wanna do?" she asked, looking from Michelle to Stephen in his matching, royal blue collared shirt.
"Nope. I just wanna have coffee with you guys, then go home, and sleep," Darius, dressed in a white collared shirt with a pale pink, silk tie, replied with a yawn. Sarah looked across the table at him.
"Well, you're no fun. You home-body," Sarah pouted. Michelle and Darius both laughed.
"Home-body? That's rich, Sarah," Michelle said. "What's a partier called? Oh, right. A partier."
"Ha ha, Michelle," Sarah replied sarcastically. She rolled her eyes while Michelle continued laughing. The joke, if it could be called as such, wasn't even that funny. "She can be so odd…"
"Is there anything you wanted to do, Sarah?" asked Stephen.
"Hell, yes! Let's go ice skating!"
"Ice skating?" Darius said as he quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes, ice skating," Sarah repeated. "I want to go ice skating."
"She's suffering from a mild case of retardation. Forgive her," laughed Michelle.
"Michelle, have you smoked any weed? You've been kind of giggly…" Stephen trailed off with a smile in his eyes. Michelle's laughter stopped.
"Did I say you could speak? No," she said, answering too quickly for him. Sarah laughed at that.
"Wow, you guys.… but seriously, I want to go ice skating," the brunette said.
"Sarah, it's too late. The ice skating ring closes in about four minutes anyway, so it's pretty much not worth it," Michelle replied.
"Oh," Sarah commented, looking down. "I thought it was open until one today…"
"No, it's definitely not," Stephen said. "So now that you got that case of the crazies out of your system," he said as he got up from the table, "we're gonna go." Michelle nodded and stood up, too.
"Yeah. Happy Valentine's Day, Sarah!" added Michelle as she followed Stephen outside. Darius looked at Sarah.
"Is there anything else you want to do? Or do you want to just go home?" asked Darius.
Sarah opened her mouth but thought better and shut it. She really didn't want to go out. She'd been relatively happy the past three weeks, but when she woke up today, she realized it was Valentine's Day and couldn't help the morning tears. She shook her head and grabbed her purse. "No, I just wanna go home." Darius stood up.
"All righty then," he replied, standing up as well. "Let's go." Sarah nodded and strode past Darius as he held the door open, a small smile gracing her face as she did so. Their car ride home was in complete silence, and when Sarah got out the door, she walked straight into the house without looking back.
"What is up with you guys?"
"What doth thou mean, my lady?" asked Didymus. "Should we be standing upon the ceiling?"
"Yeah. What you mean, Sarah?" questioned Hoggle.
"I mean, why the hell aren't you guys talking to me?" demanded Sarah, feeling quite angry at her friends. "You guys haven't spoken to me all week!"
"Our tasks have been keeping us away from thee. Verily, we have seldom had such busy schedules," Didymus answered, careful not to reveal too much to Sarah. Jareth had given them strict orders not to tell her anything about the kingdom without verifying the information with him first. Sarah sighed in annoyance. She'd guessed what they were about and as upset about it, too. She knew she wouldn't get anything out of them, too.
"You know what? Never mind. I've got stuff to do." Sarah checked her watch. "I've gotta meet a guy. So I'll talk to you guys later." Before either could do anything, she was out of the room.
"Do ye think Jareth knows about this?"
"I fear he does," Didymus said, nodding slowly with sympathy in his eyes. "I fear he does."
Downstairs, Sarah was running out of the house, grabbing a jacket as she did so and breathed in the clean, fresh air. She had no idea what had come over. One minute, she'd been talking to them. The next, she had been freaking out over nothing. It was like the room had become severely hot, or maybe that was just her temper. Either way, it had not gone well. Sarah looked up at the blue sky and had the sudden urge to go to the park. She hadn't been there for what seemed like ages. She ran back in the house. "Irene! I'm going to the park!" she called.
"Did you finish your homework?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yes!"
"Okay! Be back before-"
Sarah shut the door and was running down the block by the time Irene was on the porch to yell at Sarah for deliberately disobeying her. Sarah laughed as her feet pounded the sidewalk. She'd probably get in trouble when she got back, but for that moment, she didn't care. A sudden happiness filled her when she thought of the place she had spent so much time. Sarah stopped in front of the park. She'd spent a little too much time here. "I didn't have any life whatsoever," she thought as she surveyed the expanse of stiff, nearly frozen green grass.
Sarah walked through the park, looking up at the huge, old trees that probably predated her great, great grandparents. "But not Jareth," she thought. Sarah let out a scream of frustration as she passed over the bridge. An elderly couple shot her dark looks, but she ignored them, thinking, "I don't know what to think. Mom said- but I know that it won't work. I want to try..." She sat angrily on the bench Merlin had once occupied on a spring day. "He's so much older... So much more experienced. I mean, what would I even do in situations like..." Sarah blushed. His pants really left so little and so much to the imagination. "You probably wear them on purpose, too."
She sighed and propped up her elbow on her knee and rested her head on her hand as she leaned forward. "You make life so difficult, you know?" She stared off into space. "I don't exactly help either..."
"I'm going to have to do something about this Darius character," Jareth mulled as he stared into a crystal. His body was draped lazily over the throne, one leg resting on the floor while the other hung over an arm. Darius' image was floating around inside the crystal. "Sarah is mine and will stay that way. I worked too hard to get her." Jareth paused in his thoughts and lowered his eyes. He hadn't really worked for her at all. It had been more of a mutual thing. "She does bloody well love me..." Jareth looked back at the crystal, feeling annoyed. "I am her slave," he thought- the annoyance he felt was plain even in his thoughts, "but she refuses to let me rule her..."Jareth got up and paced around the empty throne room. It had been empty quite frequently for the past nine months. The goblins had actually seemed to have fully reclaimed their long lost common sense and left Jareth alone. His mood had been more mercurial than usual. Perhaps it had something to do with the information he was gathering together for Oberon. He'd ordered all of the different parts of the Labyrinth and Goblin Kingdom to file reports of their sections for it. Only half had come in, and he only had another two and a half months to get it all together. He stopped pacing and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why am I surrounded by idiots?" he groaned aloud.
"Yer Majesty?" Hoggle's head poked inside the room from just behind the door.
"What are you doing in MY throne room uninvited?" Jareth said, looking vehemently at Hoggle, who had somehow obviously gotten into his throne room.
"I have my reasons," he replied. Jareth's face twisted into such a promise of violence that Hoggle involuntarily shuddered and was suddenly breathing very shallowly.
"Higgle, you'll do what I say, and you will not ever come into my presence without my consent," Jareth said slowly, deliberately. He wanted Hoggle to understand just how serious he was about this. "Otherwise, not even Sarah's wishes will save you."
"Yes, Y-Yer Majesty," Hoggle said, looking down. He could be blatantly brave at times and hopelessly cowardly the next. This was one of those cowardly times that seemed to be most abundant.
"Anyway- now that you're here, I might as well tell you..." Jareth trailed off, looking out the window. He didn't even so much as flicker his eyes toward Hoggle, but he wanted to goad him into asking all the same. A few moments of silence passed, and the dwarf's patience ran as thin as the Goblin King knew it would.
"What is it?" Hoggle demanded, stomping his little foot down. Jareth's eyes flicked dangerously towards Hoggle and rested on his figure.
"You're going to help oversee the Labyrinth while I'm away in Avalon. Didymus will be in charge, though. You'll have the Bog and the outer rock walls, which brings me to my next point. Where are the reports for your section?" Jareth spoke in an even, calm voice with his body in a completely relaxed position. Only the fire and wrath in his eyes and the cruel line of his mouth played contrary to this cool, collected figure.
"Well, ye see, Sire, I-" Hoggle stumbled over his words, and Jareth smiled a particularly cruel, devilish smile showing off slightly pointed teeth.
"I think it's because you're incompetent, Hoggle," he cut in, his voice not needing to be raised to lift itself over Hoggle's bumbling. "Do you know what I do with incompetent subjects?"
"Please! Don't throw me in the Bog!" Hoggle threw himself at Jareth's feet as he sniveled. "As if livin' in it weren't bad 'nough!"
"Get a hold of yourself, you idiot," Jareth sighed, tiring of the game. He really didn't have the strength for it just then. Perhaps another time... "Have it in by the end of the week."
"Or?" Hoggle asked, scared of the Goblin King's reaction to his innocent question.
Jareth simply gave Hoggle a look with raised eyebrows that told him that he would have it in. The Goblin King then gazed out the window nonchalantly.
"Goodbye, Yer Majesty." Jareth said nothing as the dwarf exited his throne room. He still had much to plan concerning his entrance into Avalon. He still had no idea if he wanted to do a secret sort of entrance where everyone knew exactly the hour and the minute when he arrived and talked about it for hours or if he wanted a huge entrance with gaudy streamers, a huge opening and show of strength the likes of which Avalon hadn't seen in little over a millennium. Jareth thought over the two ideas and felt himself getting annoyed again.
"I'm never this disgustingly indecisive," he thought of the second option. "I'll do exactly what I want. She's got me so twisted up that I don't even know which world is which. Sarah obviously doesn't understand who she's dealing with. There aren't any rules this time." He smiled a real, happy smile. "So there won't be anything to stop me. I'll make the road if you won't, Sarah, and you'll have to take it because they'll be nothing left to hide behind--no childhood, no Toby, no higher ideals." Jareth settled back comfortably into his throne. He'd have to make sure the goblins would stay this neat and orderly when he had Sarah. She had to see he was strong enough because he was. She had to see he was right for her because there could never be another. "We belong to each other, and it's both our bloody faults."
Sarah walked back from the park and stepped into her house. The sun was just setting in the sky, and she had just finished a nice, long think about her whole situation. Everything seemed a lot clearer in that place. Maybe it was because Jareth and she had interacted there before ever even knowing each other. Sarah ran up the stairs and into her room, where she promptly flung herself onto her bed and smiled. She had a double date with Darius, Stephen, and Michelle that night. They were going ice skating.
"Hey, Irene?" Sarah called from her prone position.
"What, Sarah?" Irene called back from the downstairs. Her voice was particularly sharp, and Sarah took in a calming breath to fight the urge to cuss her stepmother out.
"Do you know where my old cream colored shirt is?"
"The one you used to wear ALL the time?"
Sarah took in another breath. Irene didn't like to make her life easy. "Yes. Do you know where it is?"
"It's hanging up in the hall closet. I thought you'd put it there. It's been there for nearly a year," Irene yelled.
"Thank you!" Sarah yelled, getting up. She ran to the closet, grabbed the shirt, and ran back up the stairs. She quickly changed into the same outfit she'd worn that day in the Labyrinth and surveyed herself in the mirror. She'd missed parts of her old self. She'd tried to cut them out, but there wasn't anything wrong with them. Shouldn't she be allowed to be herself and be mature? Sarah looked out her window and saw Stephen pull up into the driveway. Michelle was in the passenger seat, and Darius was in the back. "Bye, Irene!" Sarah grabbed a cream colored clutch and ran out of the house, her hair streaming behind her like the flying shadow of a bird of prey.
"That was so much fun, you guys!"
"I told you, Michelle. Ice skating is the best."
"I disagree."
"That's because you fell on your ass four times in a row, Stephen," laughed Sarah. Darius and Michelle joined in, and Stephen blushed red.
"You're all terrible human beings. I hope you die of malaria," he said darkly as he pulled into Sarah's driveway. "Get out, Sarah. You're the ringleader."
"You know I love you, Stephen. I couldn't ask for a richer brother figure," she smiled, giving him a hug from the backseat.
"Yeah, yeah." Stephen smiled despite his best attempt at a straight face.
"Bye, Sarah," Michelle said, hugging her brunette friend from the passenger seat.
"Bye." They released, and Sarah turned to Darius. It had been about two months, and she still hadn't kissed him. In fact, she refused to kiss him. It wasn't that he'd pushed or anything. He had been quite the gentleman. "I just love Jareth too much..." Sarah gave Darius a hug and quickly scrambled out of the car. She took in a cleansing breath of the cool, night air. Nights like this, when the clouds were overcast and when a thunderous rainstorm was a looming threat closing in faster than the fading horizon, she could only think of Jareth. She could only think of Jareth every night, but he was especially prominent in her thoughts on nights like this. Sarah ran into the house, feeling happier than she had in a long time. She loved ice skating, and it had been a fun night, a very fun night. She was wearing her old clothes with a new attitude and felt more at peace with herself than she had for awhile. She walked into her room and was surprised that neither her father nor Irene had called to her. In fact, neither seemed to be present, but their door was locked. In fact, that had been happening a lot more often since Toby got his own room.
"Oh, God. I do NOT need that image," she thought, wrinkling her nose with a horrified expression on her face. She flopped herself down onto her bed, bouncing just a bit as she did so. She inhaled with a smile on her face but then instantly froze. The smiled slipped off Sarah's face, and her nostrils flared as the irises of her eyes turned into smoldering emerald.
"Irene..." Sarah called in a loud, strangely calm voice. "What did you do?" Her voice was still loud but calm. There was no reply. "What did you DO?!" She was losing some of the cool control. Irene's voice came from the master bedroom.
"What are you talking about, Sarah? I just did your laundry." Irene hastily wrapped a bathrobe around herself.
Sarah's face was a contortion of controlled rage. "You. Did. WHAT?!?" she screamed, slowly standing up on her bed. "YOU DID WHAT?!?"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Sarah screamed. She was about to slam her door shut but thought better of it. She quickly dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand. The pain helped clear her head of the anger. She didn't need to be so upset. She just needed it to not have happened. Sarah ran back over to her bed and lifted each pillow, smelling it all over. She repeated the same words over and over again. "Please just one of you smell like him. Just one. Just one. Just..." She didn't hear Irene yelling with her dad about her. She didn't hear her father trying to defend his firstborn. She didn't hear any of that.
Sarah lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling with her hair and limbs sprawled out around her. She couldn't cry anymore. She'd been cried out for a month now. But after an hour of smelling her pillows she figured that she couldn't go on doing the useless anymore. She wasn't doing much better just laying here on her back, though, but she didn't care. She was pissed off, and there was no correcting Irene's horrible, horrible mistake. Once again, her step mother had ruined everything. "No surprises there," Sarah thought dryly. She couldn't keep with these childish displays of anger.
She turned over onto her side and stared up out the window. The sky was dark, and the stars were covered by dark storm clouds. A flash of lightning and the booming crackle of thunder issued the warning of rain. Sure enough, a few moments after the rumble of thunder died, the rhythm of rain could be heard pounding on the roof and any other surface it could make its way to. She probably should explain something to Irene. Perhaps it was best that she just look in on Toby. He'd been awfully quiet the entire time. Sarah slowly sat up and swung her legs around, planting her heels firmly down as she raised herself off the bed. She stood up and walked to the other side of her room. With one hand on the handle and the other hand pressed against the door just above it, she slowly pulled her door open. Sarah felt a panic rise up in her. All was silent in the house. The house had been quiet since Irene had stopped yelling, actually. The panic was practically bubbling over in Sarah now. "Oh, God. Oh, God," she murmured, going back into her room. Why did Irene have to do that? That was Jareth's pillow! The Pillow! Sarah sighed and put her face in her hands. She was overreacting as usual. She allowed herself a few moments as she quickly gathered herself up. She needed to go apologize or...
Sarah looked at her bed. She just wanted to sleep, to drift off, and to wake up to the smell of Jareth. Sarah picked her head up and slowly sat down on her bed. She kicked her shoes off and shimmied out of her pants. "I just really need to sleep right now and have this GO away." Sarah slipped the silken comforter over her body and rested her head on the formerly Jareth scented pillow. "God has a cruel sense of humor."
"Didymus, you'll never guess what I've learned today," Jareth said, smiling one of his predatory smiles. The small knight hoped desperately that it wasn't meant for him. The Goblin King was sprawled across his throne as usual, and the knight stood before him.
"Whatever didst thou learn, Sire?" Sir Didymus asked cautiously. He was beginning to think that he was the only creature that Jareth actually spoke to. "Where art all the goblins...?"
"I have found out through informers that the person responsible for the espionage is one of three young rulers. One is the dearest cousin of John, a Fae who works for Sarah's mother. The other two are both under 300 years old, which would fit what the spies said about a young ruler. One of the other two has ties to Bloody Bones," Jareth said, watching Didymus carefully. "Do you know what this means?"
"That the one with ties to Bloody Bones is probably going to use the..." Jareth paused, a look of utter disgust and horror flitting across his features, "creature to attack the Labyrinth."
"Canst thou simply place a warding spell since Your Majesty now knows the creature's name?" Didymus replied. Jareth looked annoyed.
"Yes, Didymus. That would work- if it were possible to ward off Bloody Bones…. Its magic is even more ancient than mine. It's immortal, actually immortal. You cannot kill it in any way. Neither lead nor silver nor salt is effective against it," Jareth said slowly. "Only if High King Oberon and I worked together could we do something. Do you know what that means?" Jareth leaned forward to look into the knight's eyes. He hadn't looked into another's eyes to see into their soul in centuries...
"Your Majesty wouldst have to reveal himself to the High King," Didymus said, finally understanding. Jareth was surprised that the knight actually knew that Jareth couldn't tell the High King and that the knight was far more observant and knowing than he let on.
"You know?"
"Know? That is... yes? I knoweth that Your Highness has hidden his vast, expanding magic from the High King, if that is what Your Lordship meaneth," he replied. Jareth looked at him with more respect.
"I'm actually going to feel more at ease knowing that you'll be watching the Labyrinth while I'm gone, Didymus," the Goblin King said, reclining back on his throne. "You can leave," he said. Didymus looked at Jareth.
"Yes," he bowed his head as he kneeled, "Your Majesty."
Hmm.. does this seem jumpy to you? Well, IDC! Lol. Okay. So my new nickname, because of that hilarious commercial that uses my namesake, is "IDK my BBF Jill." Oh. Yeah. Chapter Fifteen will be up before next Wednesday. Why? You ask. Because I said so. Plus, it's summer. I should be giving more updates. Not less. . LYLAS! Unless you're a guy.. in which case LYLAB!