A/N: So I had a small scare. I previously had written out parts of this chapter, and was really excited because I could just "fill in the blanks" between what I'd already written. I was dismayed to discover that I could not find this chapter, and I thought it was lost or deleted. After several days of panic and anger and sadness and nearly giving up (at least until the anger abated-I couldn't have left you guys hanging like that.), I finally found it. In plain sight. In its proper folder. Jeeze, you'd think I'd been super stressed out lately or something. *sarcastically rolls eyes* Anyway. It's found, it's finished, and now we don't have to panic. (Yay!) Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter! Please review at the end with your thoughts!
UPDATE: Added more to this chapter, I hope you like it! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth.
Blind
Chapter Eighteen: A Blind Wish
The walk to the throne room was without conversation, broken only by the sound of Sarah and Jareth's footsteps and the creaking of the various doors they passed through in the castle. Howl had rejoined them, and went ahead to open the doors. The throne room double doors themselves opened with much groaning, and silence greeted the king and his guest.
Sarah was just wondering where the clock and mirror had gone to, when Jareth answered as though she had spoken aloud. "Tick-Tock and Mirra asked to be relocated to the library, once I expressed my hope to speak privately with you before your departure." The king paused. "Speaking of additional ears..." Jareth spoke to Howl. "Thank you, Howl, for your assistance. You can return to the garden for a run or the library for a rest, if you like." Howl huffed and whined. "Yes, you may say goodbye to Lady Sarah." Howl stepped up to Sarah, nuzzling her hand with his wooden nose and whining. Sarah smiled faintly and rubbed the wolf's smoothed ears and head.
"Goodbye, Howl. Thank you for your help. I'm glad I got to meet you." Sarah said, and the wolf nuzzled her hand once more before he turned and left in the direction of the garden.
Jareth turned them toward the throne room, and Sarah tried to swallow the lump that'd formed in her throat. It was no use, yet Sarah managed to reply to his earlier words about the clock and mirror. "Oh?..."
Jareth led her across the throne room towards his throne. "Yes. I know you have questions. I can answer them uninhibited if the mirror and clock are not present. They tend to gossip." He gave a dry chuckle at the end, and a faint smile tried to tug at one corner of Sarah's lips. The two came to a halt next to the throne and Jareth spoke. "Here, I've had a couch placed beside my throne where you can rest, and we can talk." Jareth helped her to sit on one end, and he occupied the other. "Now, to your questions."
Sarah turned more fully toward him. "Why didn't you tell me you were Aaron?"
Jareth was silent only a moment, then speaking softly, he gave his answer. "I knew that if you recognized me, you would be frightened and refuse my help." Sarah felt the truth of his words. She'd have been afraid he'd come for revenge, or Toby, or both.
She pursed her lips, though, saying. "You don't know that." Jareth shifted on the couch and she was reminded painfully of his deception as Aaron, and her heart ached.
"But it's true. You know that." He was right again. Silence reigned, until Jareth haltingly explained. "That's also why I never kissed you, or expressed my feelings for you, as Aaron. I wanted those things to come from me-the real me. Without an alias buoying them up. There was too much deception for my liking already."
Jareth fell silent, waiting. Another question came to her mind, and Sarah voiced it. "You healed my hands when they were scalded by the tea earlier-couldn't you heal my eyes?"
Jareth answered regretfully. "I didn't find out about your accident until after your doctor performed your surgery. If I had reached you before then, I could have perhaps healed you or helped with the healing process. However, because I found out afterwards, I did not dare risk it once the surgery had been performed. I still will not dare risk it. Your doctor had seen the damage; if I had healed you, he'd have called you a miracle. You would have been subjected to more testing and study by other, possibly less kind doctors. Healing you would have meant seeing you being reduced to a creature of study. I couldn't have lived with myself if that had happened."
Sarah eventually asked. "What about my coming back here? Was that planned?"
Jareth's muted voice was remorseful. "I never intended for you to return to the Labyrinth." Jareth's words grew a little louder as he faced Sarah. "I intended merely to remind you of the words spoken by the king to the princess; to explain to you how the king felt about her." Jareth paused, taking a breath. "To explain how I feel about you."
Before Sarah could reply, the slightest touch of magic resonated from the throne room doors. Jareth's hands tightened momentarily around hers, before he released her and came to his feet. "The boy is here." He said, "Excuse me."
Sarah turned toward Jareth with a furrowed brow, sudden panic creeping into her voice. "Where are you going?" Jareth paused at the couch, then with a smile in his voice, he scooped up her hands and placed a loving kiss on the backs of both.
His voice was light, trying at a playful tone. "While I would prefer to sit by you, dearest Sarah, our young hero coming to rescue you, believes me to be 'The Wicked Goblin King'. And Wicked Goblin Kings must be sitting on their thrones, looking ominous, when receiving such heroes." His voice turned more serious. "However, should you need me, I am here." Gently he released Sarah's hands, and took smooth, measured steps to the top of the dais and sat down on his throne.
Almost as soon as he had sat down, the throne room doors burst open, and as Jareth had said, Seth must have entered. Sarah heard the feet of a few others with him, and realized he must have gained friends along the way, like she had. "Let her go!" The boy shouted courageously, and Sarah was astonished by the change in his voice. There was a level of maturity there, that had not been present at the library.
Sarah could feel the anger coming off of Jareth, even before he spoke. When he did, his words were haughty. "Who are you to demand such a thing?" The king's tone was dangerous, and the heels of his boots tapped the top step as he stood. "What are you willing to do to make up for your actions towards her?" He asked, taking a step down the stairs of the throne.
"Be kind to her?" A step.
"Respect her?" Another step.
He stepped down to what Sarah assumed was the last step leading down from the throne. "Show her compassion?" Sarah felt Jareth's intense eyes turn gentle when they fell on her briefly. They intensified again, however, and the feeling of his eyes on her left when he looked away.
The boy angrily retorted. "I'd be more compassionate than you!"
Silence.
Absolute, volatile, silence.
It grew on the room like thick ice. Sarah felt the increasing fear coming from Seth, while an incredible fury came off of Jareth. The king spoke to the boy with such frost biting his words, it made the room itself feel frigid, and Sarah shivered. "How dare you." Jareth hissed, his voice a mere whisper. "You know nothing of such things. Of what I have gladly given, of what I have and would sacrifice for her. And unlike you, I would do it all again in an instant, if it meant I could ensure her safety and happiness." A sneer entered Jareth's voice. "Now tell me, boy. What would you be willing to give up, to make up for what you have done-for the pain you have caused her?"
Seth's voice resonated from across the room to Sarah, and she straightened warily. "Ma'am, what I did was wrong. For that I'm really sorry." He spoke next with firm determination in his tone. "I can't undo what's been done, but I will make it right." He took a breath, and speaking to Jareth, he continued with a surprising power behind his voice. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered-" Seth stopped, seeming suddenly at a loss. Had he forgotten the words?
He must have remembered, for the boy began reciting from the book again. "I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen." Jareth came down from the last step towards Seth, who stopped and fumbled for his right words.
Jareth turned instead to Sarah and knelt down before her, his back to Seth as he took her hand in his own with tender care. Lifting it, he placed it against the side of his face, and held it where she could read his expression. His other hand rested just past her wrist. "Please understand." He pleaded in a whisper only she could hear. Under her hand, Sarah could feel the raw emotion twisting his face. Similar to the expression of pure agony that he had worn in the garden not long ago. Only this time, his lips were turned in a smile that wavered-he was trying to smile for her, even though it hurt.
Seth remembered part of the words and called out, "For my will is as strong as yours-"
Her eyes stung with the promise of tears, and she reached carefully toward Jareth with her free hand. "Jareth..." Her own lip trembled, and tears slipped down her cheeks.
Jareth gently caught up her other hand and placed a light kiss upon the palm. "Dearest, please don't cry." He murmured against it. But even as he said it, Sarah felt one of his own tears slip down onto her fingers next to where his lips were still half pressed to her palm.
Something inside Sarah crumbled then, and suddenly she leaned forward until she'd slipped off the edge of the couch. Jareth's hands moved in surprise to catch her, wrapping around her waist and shoulders. "Sarah-!" He began in concern, but her hand at his lips moved slightly away to cup his cheek, and as her knees met with the stone floor, her lips met his own.
A great weight lifted from Sarah's heart, filling it with warmth and happiness, leaving her feeling light, and she relaxed further into Jareth. Jareth froze for an instant in shock, but quickly it faded. His arms around her eased into a loving embrace, and all the feelings they had been holding back, seemed to be spoken in the silence of their kiss.
"-and my kingdom as great!" Seth's voice was less certain than it had been in the beginning, but his words were enough to remind them that time was short.
They separated with reluctance, and Jareth pressed his forehead to Sarah's, one of his hands lifting to rest against her cheek. "Dearest, everything I've done, I've done purely to secure your happiness." He whispered tearfully, and Sarah's heart broke.
Taking a breath, Jareth confessed. "Sarah, I-"
But at that same moment, Seth remembered his right words, and Sarah never heard the rest of what Jareth was about to say. "-You have no power over me!"
She felt as though she was being forced to exhale, and when she breathed in again, she was suddenly sitting in a plastic chair in a familiar place filled with the smell of books.
Jareth was gone, her hands resting instead on a chair in front of her, her cane clutched in one hand. She had returned to the library in her hometown.
(linebreak)
Seth tensed when Sarah vanished, sudden fear gripping him that perhaps he'd said the words wrong. He wasn't really clear on what was supposed to happen next.
A quiet sound from the direction of the Goblin King, pulled Seth's attention to him. He was kneeling, still with his back to the rest of the room, before the couch Sarah had been sitting on. His shoulders rose with a deep breath, then fell as he expelled it. He ducked his head slightly, and brushing his fingers over his face, came slowly to his feet.
Seth observed the king, and at length spoke. "I think I understand now." The king did not reply, so Seth went on. "You love her, don't you?"
"What do you know of it?" Jareth returned, his words not as biting as they would have been only hours before this moment.
"Enough to know what it feels like to lose someone you love. It hurts. It hurts more than anything in the world." Seth took a hesitant step forward, and the king turned, fixing him in place with a look.
"Your sister." The words were like a shot to Seth's heart.
Seth bit his lip. "Yes. I lost her, and there was nothing I could do about it." He tone fell, more determined. "But you can do something. You can go to her. You haven't lost her forever."
There were conversations going on all around her, and at first Sarah felt terribly disoriented. What was going on? From a few rows ahead of her she heard one of the school teachers sigh in irritation and complain. "Where is Aaron? Isn't he supposed to be here by now?" Sarah's heart jumped, and another teacher muttered something about traffic being bad. The first teacher offered a sound of dismissal in the form of a scoff. "Or maybe he got a better job offer somewhere else." She paused, and a rustling of her sleeve made Sarah think the woman was waving her hand. "We might as well let the kids check out some books while we're here."
The teenagers took this new plan to heart and scattered to look for books. The teachers scrambled to issue them rules, following on their heels. Sarah was listening to their chatter, trying to decide what she should do. From her left sounded footsteps as someone approached and tentatively sat beside her.
Before she could utter a word, Seth was apologizing fiercely to her. "I'm so sorry. It was wrong of me to wish you away. Will you forgive me? It's ok if you don't. I'd understand." He finished quietly to her, his voice remorseful.
Sarah smiled lightly at him. "Yes, of course I forgive you." But then she frowned at him. "But promise me you will never do it again. Not to anyone, no matter how angry you get. Because next time you might not be so lucky." Seth promised soberly, and she smiled and gave him a small hug before she sent him on his way. She heard his friends teasing him about the hug, and with a light tone he told them to shut up, unembarrassed by the hug.
When it became apparent to the librarians that Aaron wasn't coming, they began putting the chairs away, and Sarah moved to stand beside a pillar near the library's balcony double doors, while the teachers began to herd their students towards the checkout counter. She stood in silence, her heart aching when a thought occurred to her. She hesitated, and took a deep breath.
Did she dare do it? Would it even work?
Then under her breath, heart beating in hopeful anticipation, Sarah Williams whispered to herself.
"I wish Jareth the Goblin King was here, right now."
Sarah waited, her heart beating wildly. She listened in silence for something-anything-to indicate Jareth's arrival.
Nothing happened. The chatter of teenagers and adults carried on as they filed out of the library, uninhibited by her wish. Sarah pressed her lips together thin, and her throat tightened while tears welled up in her closed eyes.
He wasn't coming.
Regret and sadness enveloped Sarah, and she ducked her head to hide her tears from any unwanted eyes. Someone must have opened the doors on the balcony nearby, for a cool breeze swept over her, making her shiver.
'Maybe I should just go home-' Sarah thought, when something caught her attention.
A familiar cologne following the breeze caressed her senses, and her heart thudded faster even as it was being soothed. Out of habit, her fisted hand uncurled.
A silky sleeve brushed her bare arm at her side, and a familiar hand gently took her own.
"I'm here, Sarah. I haven't left you."
A/N: That's it, folks! The end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank You to Labyrinthlover30, AliceXxX, for encouragement. Thank you to those who read and especially to those who reviewed. Jinxerbell, LovelyAmberLight, starmommy41, to name a few of those whose reviews and PM's kept me going! Reviews are what let me know you guys like what I've written; so the more reviews, the faster I'll write the next chapter of a story. Thank you again for your support, you are all wonderful! :)