Whatever Jareth was doing with his magic behind Sarah made her nose itch, she noted. She was keeping an eye on the door while he worked to free Nyx. The room smelled heavily of ozone, the air charged like before a thunderstorm. He kept a fair distance from Nyx as he worked, standing in the middle of the dark room. Moros had left the room some time ago, and Sarah wasn't sure what to think that the nightmares in the dark weren't coming after them yet.
Toby stayed next to Nyx, looking awkward and nervous, as though he weren't certain what to do with himself. Jareth had long since put the glasses she'd lent him back on her. It was an odd relief to have the weight of them on her face again, even if what Jareth said was true about her being able to break spellbinding. She didn't like not having them to protect her from other things.
Right now, they gave her the unique advantage of being able to see the way the magic Jareth was using flowed around the room in general, and in particular, her brother.
She hadn't noticed it, before, because she hadn't seen her brother share a space with so much magic, before. She wasn't certain if he was absorbing the magic that got close to him or if something else was happening, but Jareth seemed to understand what was happening before she did.
He stopped casting, and the scent dampened in the room, fading to almost nothing. As Jareth lowered his arms, he turned towards Toby. "Very interesting indeed," he mused, and Sarah heard the sharp breath he took. "I need you to grab the chains, Toby."
"What?" Toby seemed startled at being addressed.
"Grab hold of the chains," Jareth said, again, his voice that patronizing patient tone he got when he thought she was being obtuse. "I'm going to channel my magic through you to break them."
Startled, Sarah gave a half turn to look at them. Her lover's smile in the darkness was sharp, pointed, and she almost understood what Jareth was suggesting. "Jareth -?"
"Rhiannon always was a clever woman. Sending that clock to him? Setting this journey in front of him, too? He has magic, precious. Not like mine or yours, not human or faerie." He laughed, a dark and pleased sound. "He has goblin magic. I wouldn't have noticed it, before, but he's leeching off my magic the same way the goblins do. Looks like you're right, Sarah. There is some goblin in your baby brother."
Toby looked towards her, mystified, but he grabbed the chains as Jareth had ordered him to. She could see confusion and panic in his eyes.
She decided she'd need to get more information on that later, and turned back towards the door as a hand came through and punched her in the face. Sarah staggered back a step but managed to keep her feet, lifting a hand and prodding her cheeks. Lifting her gaze, she saw Bunny draw back that cloak that had camouflaged her in the darkness. Rather than addressing her opponent, she addressed Jareth.
"Alright, then, lover. But I have to ask that you move with a sense of purpose, because it looks like it's turning into a party."
She heard a pointed expletive from him and the scent of ozone swelled in the room once again.
Sarah planted her feet, not bothering with the sword. Not for this. Bunny was human, and even if she was part of a cult of magic users, Sarah had magic of her own. She shouldn't need the sword to handle her.
The cloak dropped behind Bunny and she stepped towards Sarah. Sarah stepped back and they started to circle one another, watching each other closely. Sarah felt that rush of power that started at her feet, running up through her body. It crackled along her fists, and Sarah flexed her hands for a moment, drawing Bunny's gaze.
"No brass knuckles this time, meddling bitch?"
"I could put them back on, if you'd prefer," Sarah quipped with a shrug. "But to be honest, against you, that feels like overkill."
The crash of metal to concrete was almost deafening behind her, but she moved towards it until her back was to Jareth's. In the darkness, she saw more forms moving into the room. She couldn't give her back to those figures, and trusted no one more than Jareth to cover her ass in a fight.
"Toby," Jareth said, his tone conversational. "You've still got that little parting present your sister gave you, yes?"
"Yeah," Toby said, and she heard him rummaging around a bit.
"I think that particular trick might be of use, now." That sentence was the only warning she had to shut her eyes, and she did seconds before she heard the crystal shatter on the ground. The flashbang seared her retinas through her eyelids, but Jareth had grabbed the three of them and a moment later, fresh air rushed over her face. When she opened her eyes, they were back on the roof. The cool evening breeze was pleasant on her face, and Sarah felt the faintest trickle of rain starting to fall. Looking up, she saw the sky was still dark, but clouds had rolled in to cover the sky as well. Specifically, covering the moon.
She looked at Jareth, wide-eyed. "It's raining?"
"I called in a few favors before I came back," he admitted, and he was smiling down at her.
"That looks different," Toby said, breaking away from them and moving towards the center of the roof. Sarah turned, finding her brother was right. She looked towards Jareth in askance. He nodded in agreement and they joined her brother. A moment later, Nyx stepped forward as well, and Sarah watched as Nyx lifted her hand and set it against the power. It crackled against her palm as it had, Jareth's, but then her hand seemed to sink beyond the outer layer of power and her eyes closed.
Grief and sadness on her face when moonlight eyes opened again.
"The chain was sucking magic from Nyx to bind the moon. When I broke the chain, Nyx's magic was removed from the equation." His tone was calm and matter of fact as he spoke, almost instructional. "What remains are the others who are captive. Selene wasn't pleased when she found out. Especially since she was ensnared by the magic as well."
Sarah looked at it for a long moment, and wanted to touch those tangled streams of magic as well. Still, remembering how she'd blindly stumbled around and almost ended up dead because of a lack of knowledge, she didn't quite dare. "So, that means the other two are here, too?"
Nyx's hand withdrew and she nodded. Then, she turned towards Toby. Your magic is still needed, if you will aid me in saving them.
Toby looked afraid for a moment, and didn't answer at first. As Sarah watched him, his hands curled into fists, and then he turned and looked at Sarah. "You two will have our backs?"
"Of course," Jareth answered, and Sarah felt his hand come to rest on her lower back as he stood beside her. His tone was grim and serious. "But regardless of that, be cautious."
Toby gave a bit of a grin. "Well, I mean. I'm not Sarah."
Sarah scowled at her brother, but the response drew a laugh from her lover. As Toby linked hands with Nyx and they headed back inside, Sarah noted for the first time that the primordial goddess of the night was now the approximate size of a human woman. She waited until after they were gone before she turned towards Jareth
"So, the whole giant lady of the night thing?"
"She's not human, precious. She's able to manipulate her physical form, similarly to how I can." Jareth grinned at her a bit. "Though, I imagine it's a bit like wearing clothing or shoes that are just a little too small. It will, however, make it easier for her to move through the building with your brother. Come along, we can't afford to get distracted."
Sarah took just a moment to wonder if her brother hadn't ended up as spellbound by Nyx as she'd ended up being with Jareth, but now wasn't a good time to think about it. There were other, more pressing concerns. "Then let's hurry. I don't think that once they figure out she's free they're going to be happy. They're going to be after us to stop them to keep them from freeing the others.
"Hmm," Jareth agreed, and they headed after her brother. "A reasonable conclusion."
They hurried after them and found Nyx and Toby had been blocked off by the Keres in the hall. Sarah's eyes narrowed on them and she sprinted down the hall towards them. Jareth's surprised shout met her ears, but she didn't give herself a chance to think about what she was doing, dropping down into a slide between her brother and the goddess and popping up in front of them. Once she was certain she had the attention of the creatures, she gave them a grin and punched one in the face. She ran between them, then, now that she had their attention, a smirk curving her lips.
A surprised shriek of pain and anger almost made her ears bleed, but she ignored it. The weight of the sword slapped against her thigh from where she'd slipped it through a belt loop, its weight a relief. She didn't want to have to use it, but she very well might. As she ran, she came across a few cultists, grabbing their cloaks of darkness and ripping it off of them as she passed. If she was going to be a distraction, she was going to make sure she got as much attention as she could.
She knew Jareth would yell at her for this, later. He was a worrier, she'd learned that a year ago. Especially when she was involved. But he should remember from now on that she was an excellent distraction. Especially when it came to drawing the attention of supernatural nastiness.
She'd gotten better at running, and didn't tire as easily as she had when she was running with him a year ago. After that incident, she'd learned to run for survival. Even with the training she'd done, she knew she was going to regret the past hours for about a week. For now, though, she knew she could keep just outside of their reach.
She saw a doorway in the hall and she grabbed the frame, hooking herself into it even as her shoulder smashed into the opposite side of the frame from her speed. This room was empty. It seemed, to her, like some form of warehouse to store creepy dolls or something. She moved towards one of the shelves in curiosity and found that the things looked like humans.
Homunculi?
There was a puff of glitter next to her and Jareth was walking towards her, his temper bearing down on her, cutting like a knife.
"I swear to the goblins, if you ever do something like that, again -"
"I know," she snapped back. She pulled the pouch from her pocket and shoved her finger into it, rubbing the cocaine into her gumline again, then shoving the bag at him. "You're the one who told me we'd need a distraction."
He looked at her for a long moment, and there was resigned amusement that softened the anger in his eyes. "You managed that, sufficiently, precious - in addition to scaring me witless. And pissing off everyone in the building."
"They were already pissed off," she managed, turning back to the shelves to get a better look at the creations on the shelves. "Jareth, are these what I think they are?"
His expression turned grim as he viewed what laid on the shelves. "Homunculus," he snarled. "He couldn't convince enough actual humans to join him, so he ended up with a build your own cultist bar."
She almost snorted, covering her nose and looked at him. She heard the cultists and the keres start pouring into the room, and they turned towards them. This time, Moros was with them and looking pleased with himself because he had back-up. She felt the air around them crackle around them, thick with the scent of ozone. On a whim, she drew from that energy in addition to what she could pull up from the earth and set her hands into fists, shifting her weight into a fighting stance.
"I can tell well enough that I have misstepped," Moros said, sneering as he moved forward. "It would have been a far better decision to get you on my side. Such a pity."
Jareth snorted, his lips twitching. "I can say from experience that would have never happened. Sarah is far too full of goodness and light to ever step over to your side. I tried when she was a girl and she turned me down. And I can tell from here I've got far more to offer than you."
Moros sputtered, looking furious and glared at Jareth with eyes full of hate.
"We need to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, Jareth," she said to her lover, her voice quiet. She could feel him shifting into a fighting stance, too, as they were surrounded. "We don't know if any of the cultists are human."
"Lovely," Jareth said, his voice dark with sarcasm.
She hadn't expected him to be pleased with that. "You want to take the leader and the Keres, and I'll handle the ones who will probably die if you punch them too hard?"
"I wouldn't kill them, precious." His voice was just on the edge of tart. "Brain damage is another story, entirely."
The faces of their opponents grew angry, especially Moros, and Sarah bit back a laugh. It reminded her of a year ago, as well. She reached and brushed her fingers against Jareth's hand and she shot him a bit of a grin. "We'll argue later, okay?"
"Just argue?" A laugh left her lover, and she grinned again. "Is that how your tongue keeps ending up in my mouth?"
"We'll discuss the merits of destroying more of my furniture, later, too." That drew another laugh from him and she bit her lip.
"ENOUGH!" Moros snarled. "Bunny, kill the mortal bitch. I'll handle this fae bastard -"
"Hardly a bastard, Moros," Jareth countered, his lips curling into a dark smile. "Of the two of us, I actually had a father." Moros lunged forward and Jareth side-stepped, making sure to keep him away from Sarah in the process. As he prepared to square off against the personification of the inevitability of death, he gave a careless laugh. "Such a temper, and impatient to boot."
Sarah met Bunny's gaze as the woman stepped forward and Sarah noticed for the first time that she seemed to be crumbling. Cracks were visible on the side of her face, and she felt a stirring, almost like pity in her chest. A homunculi, she realized, one that was running on empty. Then, she remembered the look of betrayal and hurt on her brother's face when Bunny had revealed herself. Power and temper crackled across her knuckles and she looked Bunny in the eye, a cold smile curving her lips.
She didn't have time to focus on Jareth's fight after that. Bunny and the other cultists threw themselves at her at once and she used what skills she had to deflect blades and hit them whenever she could. Eventually, she ended up pulling the sword for extra reach, using it to hit with a little more oomph. She realized she could channel her magic through it, and kept her focus on the cultists trying to swarm her.
She whipped the can of mace from her pocket, blowing the whole of it in a few bastard's faces, using the shelves to narrow down the number that could come at her at once, slipping between shelves when they got too close, and forcing them to follow her. She was laser focused on them until a cry of startled pain caught her attention and her focus broke as she turned towards her lover. Pain and fear clenched her guts because she recognized that damn sound. It was the same sound he'd made when the pooka had attacked him a year ago.
No.
A fist caught her across the face and she felt a blade slice into her shoulder. She turned her head, finding Bunny looking at her with a sneer across her face as she pushed the blade deeper into her shoulder. Sarah lifted her free hand, wrapping it around the blade and holding on. The grip kept the bitch from pressing it deeper, and she ground her teeth in the facsimile of a smile.
Jareth, she thought, but didn't give it a voice as her eyes narrowed with her temper. You'd better be okay.
"What's the matter, bitch?" Bunny's voice was cruel and taunting and she ripped the blade from her shoulder. Blood immediately started soaking the shoulder of her shirt, and Sarah ignored it. The pain helped her focus, as it had a year ago when Jareth had stabbed her in almost the same place. "Want to cry over losing your precious fae lover?"
"Not really," she admitted. She'd have time to cry over that, later. "I've done that before, already. Now, I just pity the bastard who hurts him. Because if he's wounded enough that I end up dealing with Moros, I'm going to kill him." She kept her voice on the mild side, and curved her lips into a dark smile
Bunny scowled, as if angry that the taunt wasn't effective, and lunged at her. Sarah tossed the sword to her off hand, curled her other into a fist and punched her in the face light and quick. The contact was jarring enough that Bunny stumbled backwards, looking surprised. Sarah moved towards her, punching her a second time, and then a third, quick light jabs that were more about keeping her off balance than they were to knock her flat.
The next cry of pain wasn't Jareth, and had a note of petulance to it that reminded Sarah of Toby when he was a child and would get hurt doing something he'd been warned would hurt him. Bunny looked away from her, a stunned expression on her face and that was all that Sarah needed to see to tell her that Moros had taken the hit that time. She planted one foot and used that as a pivot point, turning and bringing her other foot up and across Bunny's jaw hard enough that it knocked her out.
When her foot hit the ground, Bunny landed a moment later. The other cultists seemed to second guess fighting her for a moment before another took her place, fists flying, temper in his gaze. Sarah did her best to defend against the assault, but this one was a better fighter than Bunny and she took a few hits. She was about to knock this one flat, as well, when a hand grabbed her by her throat.
She was whipped around, and found herself facing Jareth who was looking at her, his entire face going deathly pale.
She could hear the ragged breaths of the one who held her and knew from Jareth's expression that Moros had gotten his hands on her. The hand kept getting tighter, and she lifted her free one, digging her fingernails into his skin. She heard him hiss in pain, but his hand only tightened. That wasn't working, but she kept digging her nails into his skin, hissing in pain.
Spots started to dance in her vision and she heard Moros bark a command at Jareth, and then the sound of the spear hitting the floor. She opened her eyes and glared at her lover. He should have just run it through her to get to him, she thought, remembering when he'd done that before. She also remembered that she'd chastised him for that, called it a betrayal of her trust of him.
Then, she remembered the sword in her own hand and she opened her eyes, looking at Jareth. He was looking at her, his expression tense, and he was saying something about Moros releasing her, but now that Jareth didn't have his leverage, there wasn't a chance in hell that would happen. So, Sarah decided to do the only thing that made sense, right then. She gave him a grin, and dropped the hand that had been clawing at Moros's.
Wrapping both hands around the hilt of the sword, she looked her lover in the eyes and saw a flash of surprise and panic in his and he shook his head as if to tell her not to. She didn't respond to his request. He could yell at her for this, later, after they both made it through this. Instead, she lifted the sword, turning the tip towards her and drove it through her midsection and into Moros.