So after a ridiculously long absence I am back with the story, and a full hopefully interesting story-line. Please forgive the long absence and enjoy!
A new world
When consciousness finally found its way into Sarah's mind, unmercifully bringing awareness to her, its presence was not as welcome as she would have initially thought. Everything was agony. Absolutely everything. She could feel every cell in her body crying out in unison as blood filled her vessels and tissues. She could feel every dust particle against her skin, the air which was usually so caressing, knifing her skin repeatedly. She wasn't dead. Death wouldn't hurt as much as this.
Vibrations shook her body as footsteps wandered around the bed she occupied, each one a new tidal wave. And then there was her back, what had happened to her back?!
If this is my fate for the rest of time, let me die. Put me out of my misery with honour. Stars please. Then darkness caved in again.
When consciousness next sought Sarah out it was more forgiving in her presence. Although the pain was still there its sharpness had abated leaving behind a dull throbbing which although painful was bearable. There was also a soothing sensation coming from her stomach where magic to aid healing was being placed inside her. How ironic that magic could be used to soothe the damage that it had caused. A chuckle escaped her throat that came out as a hoarse cry, shaking every muscle with surprise at their use.
"Don't try to speak yet, you still need to recover." That voice. She knew that voice. Sarah went to consult her memories but they slipped past her like sand through an hour glass, all there but unreachable.
The Goblin Kingdom. That's where I am. But why?
Sarah's body shuddered as her mind struggled to align the information at its disposal, knowing that it was missing several key pieces. Something had happened, something big. Becoming exhausted from the effort her mind faded back into darkness.
Five weeks after the incident had occurred, when the castle has settled into a routine of Jareth continuing with his kingship duties, Kuna dropping in at a set time each week and Primrose with a new training routine she sensed she would need, Sarah finally opened her eyes.
The brightness was not as bad as she had initially expected it to be, and although she had drawn her hand up to protect them from the glare of the sun, her eyes soon became used to the UV rays. All of her limbs felt as if they were ready to move, with the possible exception of her back which seemed to have taken on a constant dull throb, regardless of the speed of the rest of the healing process. She would have to ask someone about that.
It was then that she realised the vast quantity of light wasn't coming from the sun shining through the window. The curtains were drawn. There were symbols all around her. So many symbols. Some had been organised around the room in the walls which pulsated methodically. Then there were others, just clustered around randomly which seemed to have no purpose or coherence, as if they were wandering aimlessly, waiting to be used. Sarah watched them for a time, mesmerised at their beauty. It was like having a room of oddly shaped mood cubes. Is this what Fae see all the time?
Methodically Sarah pushed the bed sheets back, swung her legs out and hesitantly placed them on the cool stone floor. Her eyes closed and she smiled with joy as she felt herself instantaneously connect to the rest of the castle through the vibrations of life. It was like having a blue-print map laid out for her in vibrations. There was a cook on second floor currently cooking on an open flame. A Fae one floor up sat on a windowsill. A mischievous creature was running along the corridor of the first floor with what seemed to be fireworks in its hand. She was on the first floor. The footsteps raced past her room with increasing and decreasing amplitude of beating. The first floor also appeared to be the most protected judging from the number of symbols floating around, or maybe that was just her room.
Memories and names began to return to her with the cautiousness of small animals. They filled her slowly and hesitantly as she sat on her bed staring at the wall. And then the ultimate and exciting realisation hit her.
She was alive.
"Alive." The words tasted like honey on her mouth. She was a half-Fae, finally she was complete. And not for the first time, she smiled.
Testing the waters Sarah flexed the toes of her left foot, and then her right. Both responded without protest, so she moved on to raising and tensing her muscles methodically. Giving them all the chance to move and complain if there was an issue.
Once Sarah had ascertained that everything was in working order she shifted her attention to her upper body and back. Every muscle responded well excluding the muscles in her back which informed her of a soreness which usually came with overgrowth. Lifting a tentative hand to her eyes Sarah examined it, then slowly placed it on her back. It drew away sticky.
Frowning in confusion, (frowning!) Sarah decided she would ponder this issue later. Her eyes located a white gown at the end of the bed with underwear at the side, clearly intended for her use when she eventually moved. With a deep breath Sarah stood up and let her legs take the weight of the body. After weeks of inactivity the first few seconds were unsteady as the muscles revised how to carry the new found mass without collapsing, but soon the old rhythm came back. The cotton felt light against her skin and the undergarments constricting, but the simple act of dressing brought delight to her.
Giving herself a test run Sarah allowed herself a walk (oh the irony) around the chamber, letting her body grow used to the material and the idea of movement in general. Not before long though, the sunbeam from the window drew her attention and Sarah walked towards it with a fast pace. Beyond it was a garden encased by a wall. She wanted to go to the garden, she wanted to smell the flowers and feel the fresh grass beneath her, let her hair be ruffled by the wind. Glancing down Sarah saw that although she was on the castle first floor the distance was not so great, and she landed it with ease, enjoying the feel of the wind as she dropped.
The garden was a little way off from the castle, a ten minute walk at most, but Sarah ran there in just a few minutes, letting her muscles work beneath her, feeling their gliding motion.
The garden was as bright and joyful as she had expected it to be; green became emerald, red became ruby, blue became sapphire. They all burst forth with life, each one competing to attract her attention. She could feel and sense all of the life around her, and she was a part of it. There was water too, clear as the crystal pool also bursting with life.
Senseless with anticipation Sarah ran up and dived gracefully in, not even causing a splash as she entered the lake. The fish, after an initial scattering gingerly came to greet her and soon she was swimming with them and exploring their world as they showed her corals and hidden gems. A curious notion that she couldn't identify arose in her chest, which she ignored for a time until she realised that she couldn't breathe underwater and left them to come up for air.
Sarah had been so distracted by the lake she hadn't realised a Fae had approached, a Fae with silver hair and a graceful walk who was silent on her feet. Scarily silent if she was honest. They were also decorated with symbols, they orbited her body with a calming repetition, however only one set was glowing methodically, the rest just floated close by.
Pulling herself out of the pool Sarah went to greet this newcomer with a sense of fear, excitement and anticipation. She had never met this Fae by recollection, but her general excitement encouraged her to throw all caution to the wind.
At three paces away the newcomer bowed so low that her hair touched the floor (or maybe that was an indication at how long her hair was) before straightening up and giving her a glance over. Sensing that some form of protocol was required in reply Sarah bowed equally as low, getting distracted by how her hair seemed to form a black unified mass consuming light as opposed to being hair.
When she finally stood up that incredibly silent Fae (who had crossed the distance in that time) embraced her in a bone crushing hug which caused her to hiss in response to the pain that flooded her back and feel a little uncomfortable at the direction that this was taking.
Pulling away Sarah regarded this Fae wondering who she could possibly although she had an idea. Hesitantly she let the question escape her lips. "Mother?"
The Fae confirmed this with a broad smile which showed a mixture of Joy and relief.
"It is good to finally meet you my child, and it seems like you're as up-to-date as we are."
"I wouldn't go that far, my human and fae half are combined, and I can assume that you are my mother, but I am unaware of how all this even came to pass, or equally what is even going on."
"There is no doubt that it will be difficult for a time, but it will get easier."
"Can you relate to me the events from where my memories stop?"
"Walk with me around the lake; I will relate to you what has happened."
And Primrose related the whole story to her, from the start to the end, including the difficulties Jareth had faced with the council and how she came to be living there. The narrative lasted so long that they ended up sitting down on the edge of the lake enjoying the sun.
"So my existence in the human world has been wiped?" Sarah's voice gave nothing away with regards to what she was feeling when she said this. Hesitantly primrose replied
"You know what happens when someone gets taken away by a Fae. It is as if they never existed."
"So I will never see my Mum, Dad or brother again?" Her voice was shaking.
"If you did visit the human world, they wouldn't recognise you. But it wouldn't be recommendable to enter a place with so much iron while your magic levels balance out."
They no longer remember my existence. I've been removed that quickly.
If she had still been completely human Sarah supposed she would have raged about this, which was probably why Primrose was a little on edge telling her this. Indeed she could see some of those symbols start pulsing, probably defence mechanisms. Sighing Sarah observed the hole within her where anger should have been, all that was there was sadness. She couldn't change what had happened, not for all the magic in the world.
"You're not…angry at this news?"
"It was necessary to save my life. They're not dead and neither am I. True, I can no longer interact with them, but that's probably for the best. I've saved Toby from this life once; I don't want to have to do it again. Or have anyone else miss me because I can't return. Besides there is no way my mother or father could have come to terms with this."
"That's unusually wise and level headed for a human."
"I'm not human anymore though, I'm half Fae." A deadly silence followed this before Sarah excused herself from Primrose's presence. Primrose nodded in understanding as Sarah stood up and walked back to her room with all the silence and grace which Primrose herself possessed.
Sarah may have been mostly recovered but she would be exhausted for many days to come yet, and there were still many things to discuss and teach her. All in good time. Primrose reminded herself. Sarah had just lost her whole family and taken it better than she would have expected most Fae to, it was to be expected that her heart would be breaking. Staring into the lake water she let the emotion of the situation overcome her. She was pleased…no, not pleased, thrilled, that Sarah would be able to become who she was truly meant to be, the first true half Fae. But this in itself brought many tribulations, Primrose had sacrificed many years of happiness in an attempt to keep Sarah safe and content, in one moment all of that had been undone. Her daughter was now more in danger than ever; she was a half-Fae with no knowledge of magic or the way this world worked with a council which would probably kill the both of them if this was discovered… What was all that effort for? I could have reared her myself in the hills.
Primrose's mind shifted to Jareth and she felt her usual anger boil in against him. All of this was his doing and he hadn't even dared face Sarah's wrath when she awoke. He had just watched from the window.
Her mind was still not made up about Jareth. He got the job done that needed doing, and addressed situations that needed addressing. He was also the only reason that Sarah was alive now, they had managed to channel the magic through Sarah across the bond and into Jareth, leaving him almost as injured as she was. But then again the whole situation was his fault so it levelled out. His joy however, when Sarah faced death had disgusted her. He knew the danger but was more enamoured at the idea of spending forever with Sarah. Jareth hadn't even taken into account the possibility that the Sarah who collapsed on her front lawn would not be the same one who woke up. But he would discover this in due time. For now it was best to let the emotions die down and take up damage control.
Besides, she still had to figure out what was occurring with Sarah's back, because at the moment she had no clue.
Jareth had watched the whole scene unfold from the 2nd floor window. He had seen Sarah running with her hair streaming behind her, watched her jump in the lake and observed her form when she got out. If it was possible Sarah was more beautiful now than she ever had been, her natural clumsiness had been replaced by a new-found grace which even at a distance he found enchanting. Any human defects she had once possessed had been stripped away to reveal a glamorous unmarred Fae. There were features in her though that still gave away her human heritage, for instance her true form was far more human than his or Primrose's, and her features (including teeth) were less angular giving her an appearance of a youth as opposed to someone in their prime. Then again by Fae terms Sarah was still just a baby, maybe those features would sharpen off in time.
He hadn't been waiting, he'd known the second her eyes opened that she was awake, felt her joy, felt her sadness…and her regret.
The bond held nothing back anymore, everything she felt he could feel and once Sarah learnt to wait and listen she would discover that she could feel his emotions too. There was a very large element of apprehension within him (or maybe fear he didn't want to admit the existence of) at approaching Sarah. He didn't know if she would be the same person who he had sent to sleep, if she would hate him, or if everything would be the same as before.
It surprised him that when Sarah heard the news she didn't destroy the garden in anger. All he had felt within her was sadness and acceptance, potentially showing that she had more wisdom and self-control that he did now. If that was the case though, would he love this new Sarah who he had such an intimate bond with? These were all questions he would have to wait to discover the answer to.
Sighing Jareth removed himself from the windowsill and analysed his form in the mirror to see how much he had healed. There were still angry red patches all over himof new skin not yet hardened to the elements as the old skin had. He had channelled the magic flowing through Sarah (which was a phenomenal amount) to every part of the Labyrinth, from the garden, to the maze, to the crops, to the water. The whole kingdom reeked of it and he was surprised that it had yet to attract attention. When the flow had stemmed the whole kingdom had looked as glorious as a shining jewel, and was probably cleaner and stronger than one as well. Unfortunately in the endeavour parts of his body had been reduced to tissue and bone, only recently had the skin returned and recovered enough for him to let it out in open air. It had been worth it to save Sarah, but it had been more painful than he would have ever thought possible.
Again another sigh escaped his lips as he tried to lift the weight that was pressing against his chest, whether it was his sadness or Sarah's he couldn't say, but it made the wish to go about his recently ascertained kingly duties very hard. Not that there was really anything he could do at the moment while the whole kingdom was being productive on magic, but he did need to sort out the disputes of the Goblins still and consult the healer on what was going on with Sarah's back where he had drawn the magic out of, it just wasn't healing. Besides it would be good to apply his mind to something.
Sarah had jumped back through her window, so he wouldn't have to worry about her breaking the doors yet. All that would come in due course.
Hope you like it, please rate and review.