Ooh. This is getting good.
This chapter moves along pretty fast. We're getting back to some action...
Enjoy!
-Nico
Within the castle, beyond the Goblin City, there was a dark king who had recently decided upon a queen. The soon-to-be queen was beautiful; her ebony hair spilled over her shoulders and down her graceful back. Her lips were rouged naturally, as were her cheeks. She never raised her voice above a whisper; in fact she barely spoke at all.
She merely stood at her king's side, smiling up at him with a vaguely blank stare.
And even tonight, as the king took dinner in his grand stone dining room, his queen was by his side, smiling complacently at him.
Jareth looked at his fiancé…the fiancé that looked like Sarah, yet did not behave like her.
"What are you smiling for?" Jareth asked, genuinely curious.
Sarah didn't miss a beat. "I'm happy," she said in her strange, affected voice. "You make me happy."
Jareth sighed. "I haven't done anything," he informed her.
Sarah smiled. "You don't have to," she said. "I am happy just to be near you."
Jareth winced inwardly. A week ago, he would have cut open his own wrists to hear those words from Sarah's lips. Now, because he knew the declaration was nothing more than an elaborate pallor trick, he wanted to bleed for very different reasons.
"What if I did something very bad," Jareth suddenly asked. "What if I did something to you so despicable, you couldn't bear to look at me?"
Sarah tilted her head to one side as if confused. "I would forgive you," she said after a moment.
"What if the act was unforgivable," he pressed, his voice just as soft as hers.
Sarah placed a pale hand against the side of his face, her fingertips dancing along the smooth cheek. "There is nothing you could do that I would not forgive you for," she told him in her monotone voice.
She leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips; it was one of several kisses that had happened since Jareth set his spell on her weeks ago, and it was just as disappointing as the previous had been. There was no fire; Sarah's lips felt cold and empty…
Just like Jareth's heart.
When Sarah pulled back, she was surprised to see a diamond-shaped tear forming in the corner of Jareth's mismatched eye. She frowned a bit.
"Whatever is wrong?" She asked.
Jareth took her small fingers to his lips and kissed them one by one. When he lifted his eyes to hers, they were indeed damp. He took a deep, shuddering breath. "I miss you," he said quietly.
Sarah laughed.
"I'm right here," she said.
Jareth shook his head. "No, you aren't. You're not Sarah. You're not my Sarah."
Sarah's face twisted into a grimace of pain. "Of course I am," she said, sounding heartbroken.
Jareth stood up a bit quickly, knocking over his chair in the process. Sarah jumped a bit in her chair, her nerves on end.
"My darling," she said, coming closer to him. As she walked, Jareth suddenly leveled a hand at her, his finger nearly jabbing her in the chest.
Nearly because Sarah was suddenly frozen, her face still puckered in distress.
Jareth's shoulders slumped. He allowed tears to fall for several shameless moments.
He turned away from the now motionless Sarah, unable to look at her.
He had acted rashly once again, stealing Sarah from Lila's house in the middle of the night in desperation. He had only been apart from her for a few hours after she had stormed out of Setanta's royal palace and it had nearly driven him mad.
He hadn't been thinking; he had merely acted. He couldn't bear the thought of her so close, yet so far away.
So he had made a snap decision…he had used his last resort. The spell would bind her to him; would make her powerless against him. He carried her away and locked her up within the walls of his castle. She hadn't even noticed she was captive. Her little friends had tried to save her for days; only after he had banished them did he receive any peace.
No doubt they were plotting against him right this moment.
Everything had gone according to his hasty plans except Jareth had forgotten one crucial detail: magic effects every being differently. Jareth had been wholly unprepared for the change in the woman he loved; it was as if taking away her power had also destroyed her soul…
And the fire inside of her that Jareth had fallen in love with in the first place.
She had been right all those years ago when she had proclaimed that he held no power over her; it was she that held the power over him. And somewhere within that delicate balance lay a passion and an undying love that was so fragile it could disappear on the slightest breeze.
Jareth turned back to the Sarah-statue. If a breeze could destroy their love, then Jareth's actions were as effectual as a monsoon. She would not forgive him now…not now.
The only thing he could do was try to forget about her.
He stalked over to her, emotions ranging from anger to love coursing through his veins. He took a moment to memorize her face…the way her eyebrows delicately arched above her sea-eyes…the curve of her chin…the way her hair swung around her.
A crystal began to form almost subconsciously in Jareth's right hand.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Then, with all his might, he threw the crystal at her.
After it exploded into a million shimmering pieces, she was gone.
SCENE CHANGE
She had been here before.
The darkness…the smell…the vague sense that she near the ocean.
"Damn," she muttered, pulling herself up into a sitting position. She lifted her hand, looking down at her palm, which was full of glistening sand.
She looked around, the wind whipping her hair around her face as she looked out onto the dark, angry ocean and the two serene moons in the sky.
"Double damn," she said.
She shook her head, trying to clear out the thickness that was muddying her thoughts. Rapidly, her memory returned, along with the rage she felt at having been placed under a spell by Jareth.
And now she was here, once again in the Day of Eternal Night…and who knew when he would come for her.
If ever.
She stumbled over to the sort-of familiar jagged cliffs, searching rapidly for a hidden exit. Deep in her heart she knew she wouldn't find one, but her desire to smack the Goblin King once again kept her moving until her fingertips and palms were once again bloody.
The anger swelled within her chest until she screamed…a primal, searing sound that pierced over the roar of the ocean and caused several strange birds to flee from their hiding places.
"Is this how you solve your problems!" She yelled at the sea. "You banish them? You put spells on them?You do everything you can to forget about them!?"
She was yelling at Jareth, and although she couldn't be certain he was listening, it certainly made her feel better.
"Sarah?"
The excited voice behind her caused her to spin around. "Hoggle!" She exclaimed.
The small dwarf enthusiastically accepted her hug. After a moment of calling, Didymus, Ludo, Ambrosious and Lila had also gathered around their surprised friend.
"He sent you all here?" Sarah was asking. "He banished you all?"
"We tried to save you," Lila said, crying and hugging her friend. "We tried! We were so worried!"
"It's alright now," Sarah said. "I'm glad you're all here."
Hoggle scoffed. "At least that makes one of us," he said sardonically.
Sarah knelt down, leveling herself with the small man. She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Listen to me, Hoggle," she said, her voice deadly serious. "We are going to get out of here. It's going to happen." She looked around at the somewhat frightened group. "And I need all of your help."
Her eyes were wild with determination and anger. And even though Hoggle knew that it was impossible to escape from the Day of Eternal Night, he found himself nodding agreement.
"All right, Sarah," he said. "I'll help you."
"So will I!" Didymus chimed in, mounting Ambrosious who was barking happily.
"Me too," Lila said, although she still looked a bit frightened.
Ludo bellowed his allegiance as well.
"Good," Sarah said, her mouth pursed in a determined line. "Because I have a little unfinished business with a certain Goblin King. And no amount of magic will stop me."