Chapter 16: Aftershocks

Jareth didn't know how long, exactly, it took for him to make the decision. Less than a second, he suspected. For him, there was no contest between capturing Marcas and saving Sarah. Almost immediately, he changed into an owl and gave chase, more a reaction than an actual choice. He saw gravity take her and dove after her without giving a second thought to the cause of the problem. His wings tucked tight against his body, he focused his eyes on her, closing the distance between them.

Her mask had come off as she fell, and he whirled around it to avoid the obstacle in midair, straining to reach her before she met her end on the flagstones below. He didn't want that. He didn't want to lose her before he'd even gotten to tell her the truth. A cry of frustration and temper escaped him, the sound leaving him as a haunting shriek. His magic enhanced his speed, and her speed seemed to be slowing, rather than increasing.

She reacted to the sound, jade eyes lifting to his face and he watched those eyes widen in surprise, as she hadn't expected that he'd come after her. There was fear, bordering on panic in her gaze, and he wondered what was going on in her head, right then. Her magic was tangling with his, but there was no control in it. She was channeling it through sheer instinct, and he took a moment to feel relief that there didn't seem to be much backlash. Just some turbulence in the air around them. He came abreast to her as she fell and changed back with a thought, leaving them falling together through the air. He wrapped his arms around her, and teleported them to the first safe place he could think of.

They landed on his bed hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

He didn't say a word, wasn't certain he could have said anything, anyways. Instead, he pressed his face against the top of her head, his hand slipping into her hair. He was still trying to wrap his mind around everything that had happened over the last few minutes, what they'd both done. Closing his eyes, he swore at himself, and accepted responsibility for giving Marcas the time he'd have needed to escape.

. . .oOo.

They'd fallen for seconds, and Sarah knew it, and landed someplace soft and warm. Her skirts were bunched up around her hips, and she was half-straddling the lap of the Goblin King, his arms around her tight, his face pressed against her head. She could hear the ragged breaths that left him, but she couldn't bring herself to think about the position she was in. His embrace was like a shield, like he was promising her without words that he would protect her, and nothing would ever hurt her again. He was holding her face against his chest, as if to shield it.

She realized then that her mask was gone.

She jolted in his embrace, but his arms only tightened, holding her protected and hidden. It should have - almost did - make her feel safe. If not for one thing.

She could remember the moment their eyes had met as she'd fallen. Thinking back over what had happened, that had been after her mask had fallen off, after she'd heard that shriek. So she knew he'd seen her face. Everything else that had happened over the time since she'd first seen Marcas at the ball started to overwhelm her. Panic gave the fear that was already inside her heart jagged edges. A ragged breath that felt like a sob ripped from her and she curled her hands against his lovely frock coat. With a whimper, she pushed him away, her head hanging between them, her chest heaving from the effort to breathe.

"Sarah -" The way Jareth said her name was as gentle as anything she'd ever heard him say, but the sound of it made her flinch and she backed off what they'd landed on, shaking her head and trembling.

"No. Oh, no. No. No," she whispered, curling her hands into fists, and putting space between them. She couldn't think, right then. She just understood, now, that he knew. He knew it was her, and he could see how broken she was. She couldn't bear that. She couldn't stand to see pity in his eyes. Or worse, hatred. It would kill her. So she refused to lift her head, curling her hands in her skirts to keep from reaching out for him.

"Look at me," he pleaded with her, and she could hear concern in his voice. The sound of his footfall on the floor almost made her lift her head, but she shook it, backing away further.

"No, please. No." She kept backing from him, until her foot caught against a piece of furniture and she almost fell. His hand caught her arm and her panic grew worse. She couldn't think. She needed space to think.

She wrenched away and turned her back on him, hugging herself. She closed her eyes, feeling tears cutting a path down her face. She couldn't breathe, and even trying to slow them didn't work. She didn't feel like she could control them, at all. The feel of not being in control just made her breathing worse and she knew she needed to get away from him so she could get herself under control.

"Sarah, wait -" This time, there was an edge of fear and warning in his tone, mixed with the worry. His fear was as real as her own, but the strength and number of hers were drowning her. That painful need to get away from everything tore through her and she kept trying to breathe in the restricted bodice of the gown, unable to suck in enough air.

"No, I -" She swallowed hard and almost choked on all of the terror and self-loathing she felt boiling up inside of her heart. If she stayed any longer, she'd want to look at him again. She'd want to see the face of the man she was starting to fall - She stopped herself before she allowed that thought to fully form. A sob ripped from her and she bit her lip so hard she felt it crack and bleed, her hands curled into fists so tight they ached. She pressed her fists against her eyes, and her emotions finally screamed out of her.

"I WANT TO GO HOME!"

. . .oOo.

Jareth had never felt powerless before, but he felt her drawing up the power before she cast, and after she spoke the words, she disappeared, mere inches away from his reach.

He had precious few seconds to defend himself against the backlash from Sarah's barely controlled release of power. It still hit with enough force that it reminded him of a dragon's kick. He supposed it was lucky for him that the initial physical sensation was more potent than the emotional one - at least, for now.

After the initial blast came the aftershocks, shaking the castle and the Labyrinth at their foundations, and he knew the vibrations would ripple through the Underground, far beyond the reaches of his lands. The first caught him while he was still trying to recover, and vulnerable from the initial backlash. It knocked him back into the wall of his room and he struggled to draw breath for several moments after. The waves continued for some time before they eased, and he allowed himself to breathe at that point.

Around the same time, the pain began to ease, and he shifted, laying on his back and staring up at his ceiling, trying to catch his breaths. That was when the violent stew of emotions started to bubble to the surface. He felt sick, sad, and furious, all at once, and that mess of feelings left him feeling nauseous on top of all the rest.

It was too much to hope for, he supposed. That Sara would be able to trust him enough to not run away from him. Just remembering the pain and panic in her voice made his heart ache in sympathy. There was only one reason that he could simultaneously feel so hurt and angry and everything else that was bubbling inside of him.

He loved her.

He'd known that for some time. It was a truth he'd been careful to not look at too closely, because of precisely this. Her reaction told him that no matter how friendly Goblinskin was with him, Sarah wanted nothing to do with him.

That thought had barely flitted through him when he shook it away. That wasn't fair and he knew it. He knew why she'd hidden herself in the first place. He'd known since before she arrived that she was terrified of him. She didn't know that he'd always known who she was, because it had been easier on them both when she didn't know. This wasn't the best time for that conversation, either. And the fact was, he shouldn't have tried to get her to look at him when she was panicking so badly. Maybe if he hadn't, she wouldn't have run away.

Speaking of which…

He forced himself upright, scrubbing his hands over his face, a sigh wrung from him. Deep down, he knew he should use this moment of chaos to rally his troops and track down Marcas, but from the cacophony he could hear echoing up from the courtyards below his window, Fenris had already handled that for him. Good.

That meant he could spend some time doing as he wished. And what he wanted to do was check on Sarah. However, given how she was before she left, he didn't think chasing her would net him any points. So he conjured a crystal and threw a thought at the surface, hoping that he'd be able to see her, to see where she was. From the feel of the magic, she'd hurled herself across the veil. He tried to not think about how damn dangerous that really was.

The surface of the crystal remained distressingly blank, and he wasn't certain why. He hoped that didn't mean that she'd been hurt, but he had no way of knowing without physically crossing the veil, himself. Considering she'd basically punched a hole through it, he didn't think it was safe for him to follow. He glared at the blank crystal as if it had insulted him and threw it to the stones beneath him, letting it shatter. He leaned back heavily against the wall and curled his hands in his fine hair, pulling until his scalp ached, letting his pain hold him in its grasp for now.

"Dammit, Sarah," he uttered to the empty room, trying to get his own raging emotions under control.

He wasn't certain how long he let himself brew in his own misery before he became aware of someone knocking at his door. He suspected that it had been ongoing for some time, given that the knocks were growing increasingly brisk and sharp and he could detect some temper behind them. He recognized the tempo as one Olivia used. He'd have to face them, eventually, but he wasn't certain he was in the mood for it right then.

"Go. Away." He snapped at the door, shooting it a glare.

His friend's voice was slightly muffled by the heavy door, but he could still hear that it was as sharp and cross as her knocks. "Sweets, you know me well enough to know that is not going to happen."

He snarled, his glare at the door growing more sour and he considered ignoring her. Then, he realized that she was right. Until he opened the door, she wasn't going anywhere. She'd probably keep right on knocking just to piss him off, too. Olivia had her own moments of pettiness. He sighed and forced himself to his feet, stalking towards it, taking a moment before he opened it to wrap his temper around himself like a shield against his pain. Throwing the door open, he gave his friend a withering glare.

"What?!"

She glared right back, the middle of her forest green eyes honey amber and molten with her own temper. He measured his against the fire he saw in her eyes for a long moment. As strong as his own felt, the look in her eyes told him hers was stronger and backed by just as many complicated emotions as his own. So he sighed, stepping aside, and let her push past him.

"Did you find her?" Olivia snapped, as soon as the door closed behind her.

"Yes," he answered, not looking at her. Of course that was the first question. He wasn't surprised.

"Where -?"

"Gone." It was all he could say, and he knew that regardless of his temper, the pain in that one word was audible. He could still see it in his mind - the way she'd started to fade from sight before she spoke the words that took her away from him. He lifted a hand, rubbing the ache in his chest that hadn't gone away, yet.

Olivia whirled towards him, her expression one of worry and surprise. "Gone?!"

How to explain what had happened in the scant seconds between when he'd left Olivia and Fenris in his office, and when Sarah had vanished. He didn't look at Olivia, pacing towards the window. He didn't want to discuss this - it was a still bleeding wound. But Olivia was Sarah's friend as well as his own. So he chose his words with care, trying to reign in his temper.

"Marcas had her cornered in one of the towers. He was forcing me to pick between catching him and saving her. She fell. Her mask fell off and I saw her face. I caught her, but she wasn't calm from dealing with Marcas and -" He paced away from her, tearing off his suit jacket and loosening his cravat to give him something to do for a moment. "She ran away, punched a hole through the veil and crossed with no aid from me."

Olivia waited in silence until he stopped talking. "That explains the tremors. I haven't felt anything like that in a long time. No one has found Marcas, but I suspect that Marcas used those aftershocks and rode one out of the Labyrinth while everyone was distracted by them. I suspect he's escaped, so she's still in danger."

He figured that would be the case. If he'd needed to escape from somewhere he was trapped, he'd use that sort of trick, as well. He closed his eyes, sighing and braced his hands on the desk in his room. And because he'd promised Sarah he'd protect her, he was still bound by that promise, regardless of where she resided.

He wondered if she realized that.

It took him a moment to push the pain away enough that it wasn't strangling him, and he nodded his head, feeling overwhelmingly tired. That pain still lingered around the center of his chest, like heartburn.

"I'll have to go talk to her, anyways. She's too strong - strong enough to cross the veil on her own, with scant training and scared out of her wits. If she's capable of that much, she's too strong to go untrained, even if she stays in that realm. I haven't seen someone with that much raw talent in a long time, Olivia. Not from the mortal realm. And if Marcas manages to tap into that power…" He shook his head, taking a steadying breath. "I just wanted to wait until we'd both had a chance to calm down some."

And he needed time to figure out how he was going to endure training a woman he loved with every fibre of his being who wanted nothing to do with him.

Olivia looked at him in concern for a long moment, then walked around the table and wrapped her arms around him in a comforting embrace.

"From experience, I'm sure her emotions when she left are even more complicated than you might think. She does care about you, Jareth. She's just also scared."

He swallowed the bitter vitriol on his tongue, holding onto his friend and accepting the comfort that she offered to him. It was hard for him to accept that she could be right. Still, he had to admit that Olivia would know better than him how it could feel to be in a situation like Sarah. She'd seen nightmares in her life, and had tried to gut him when she'd first woken. Another woman with fear and power enough to make her more dangerous than she realized.

He'd watched Olivia and Fenris dance around their attraction for one another when they'd first met. They both had trauma of their own that made it hard for them to be together. He would never tell them, but he knew about the nightmares, even if he didn't know their nature, even if he couldn't fathom the cruelty that would cause them. Even after so many years, that pain came between them on occasion. Sometimes, people who were hurt could only heal so much, and they'd never be completely whole again.

Sarah had similar enough trauma to them both that it had caused a bond to form between the three of them that even he couldn't break. So he couldn't dismiss Olivia's assessment because of that.

A tired sigh escaped him and he finally drew back from the embrace, setting his hands on Olivia's shoulders and giving them a squeeze. "I'll give her some time to reacclimate to her world, again. Before I go and turn it upside down for her."

Olivia gave him a smile that was gentle, even with a bit of mischief in it. "Quite generous of you."

The words startled a laugh out of him and his lips held in a rakish smile. He wondered, silently, if Sarah would agree.

"For now, we need to prepare for any possible attack from the Shadow Courts. I want the guard in the Above doubled as well. I don't trust Marcas to disappear into obscurity until things die down, here. He's going to keep going after her, and he's going to come after the Goblin Kingdom." Of those things he was certain. He supposed it was fortunate that he had this to concentrate on, rather than his feelings.

"You think he'll risk a direct attack?" Olivia asked, surprised.

He looked at her, his expression turning grim as he considered everything that had happened over the past months. "I think that's been his plan from the start."

. . .oOo.

Sarah felt like she was choking. Something in her airway was keeping her from breathing normally, and she gagged around whatever it was, trying to cough it up, to force it out of her throat.

"She's waking up!"

Whatever was blocking her airway slid out of her throat, uncomfortably and she coughed hard as it left, her throat feeling like it was on fire. For now, that was the most noticeable thing. It wasn't a pain she was used to. It reminded her of when she'd had tonsillitis as a girl. As she lay there, she started to notice other sensations. Her body ached and felt heavy. She could feel hands on her, and it stirred panic, especially when she realized she was too weak to fight back.

Fingers peeled her eye open and a pinpoint of bright white light blinded her, before they did the same with the other eye. She flinched away from it. The light made her head ache.

"Welcome back, young lady!" Whoever spoke sounded chipper and bright. "Can you confirm your name and date of birth?"

"December twelve, nineteen seventy," she managed, squinting and trying to turn away from the light that kept flickering at her eyes.

"Did anyone call the family?"

"They're on their way!"

More voices, more movement. Too much was happening around her for her to understand what was going on. She could barely see the room she was in, white spots from the light blinding her ability to see much of anything at all.

"Your name, miss. Can you remember your name?"

She didn't want to say that, she realized. Still, she could answer without really answering. "Williams." That was all she was going to say until she knew where she was and what was going on. And who kept poking and prodding her. She shied away from the hands grabbing at her, trying to back into the thing she was leaning back against.

"SARAH!"

She heard rapid footsteps and then forty pounds of child collided with her midsection, startling a scream out of her. She held her arms out, looking around and trying to bury the panic that was surging inside of her again. Her name on someone's lips caused that, now. She didn't like that. She forced herself to breathe, and looked around, holding her arms out, not embracing the person clinging to her.

It took a moment before the spots cleared from her vision and she looked down and found blond hair over blue eyes in a child's face. Tears filled her eyes and a shaking breath left her.

"Toby?" She whispered in disbelief, her voice cracking from pain and the emotions in her. She sounded rough, raspy, but she wasn't mistaken. This wasn't like the dream she'd had. This felt real, not like it wasn't quite right. Not deja vu, either. Lifting her eyes, she found her father and stepmother standing there at the door to the room. Tears and relief in their eyes before Karen started crying against her father's chest, her shoulders shaking from the force of them.

Her thoughts spun, but she remembered the words she'd screamed before everything went dark.

I want to go home.

Home, she realized, tears falling down her face and she wrapped her aching arms around her brother, holding onto him as hard as she could, scarcely believing that it was true. She took another trembling breath and pressed her face against her brother's hair.

She was home.