Title: Ace of Spades, Part Four, Chapter Six
Author: Silverstar Wizard
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. I don't own Jareth or Sarah or King Arthur. Good lords, I can barely manage to hold onto the stuff I have. Why would I want to accept responsibility for someone else's?
Dedication: This one's for the two people who helped me write this, namely Faith Harris and the Cat (Prettydreamer77), the one for actually dispensing advice, and the other for having no idea what was going on until very, very recently. Love and peaches to you both!
Six
Hours later, Sarah reached down to help Arthur over the top of a wall. They had just barely escaped the fireys, and as he straightened up on the top of the wall, Arthur subconsciously put a hand to his neck, as if to make sure his head was still there. He looked around at the view, which was rather expansive, due mainly to the fact that they were at the top of a wall, but also because the Labyrinth flowed down into a valley before rising again to the castle. All around them, he saw only sandy colored walls, green hedges, and orange and pale blue sky. Some thin silver clouds scudded across the sky, but apart from that, there was no movement anywhere. It looked quite serene and picturesque, but Arthur was coming to realize, as Sarah had six months ago, that nothing was what it seemed in the Underground.
"I find it hard to believe that a place such as this really exists. It grows steadily more dangerous. May I ask where exactly we are bound?"
Sarah pointed at the castle. "That's the castle at the center of the Labyrinth. We're headed there. But first," she looked around, trying to find a trap door in the wall, "we must get through the Bog of Eternal Stench." She turned and kept looking, getting down on her knees to search.
"What?" asked Arthur incredulously. "The Bog of what?"
"Of Eternal Stench. It smells. Bad. And the worst part is, if you step in it, you smell like Bog for the rest of your life." In the back of her mind, Sarah could hear Hoggle saying those very words. She stopped talking abruptly and kept looking in silence.
After several minutes, she got tired of looking and stood up with her hands on her hips.
"All right, you Goblin King! I need to get into the Bog! Let's have a clue here!"
Nothing happened. A bird flew overhead and landed in a nearby tree. Sarah glared at it. She was hot, tired, dirty, thirsty, itchy, and really didn't feel like looking at any small innocent creatures. Of course, the bird didn't know that, and started to sing quite cheerily. Sarah was irritated, but since she couldn't take her anger out on Jareth, its real target, and since she didn't have anything against Arthur, she picked up a rock and hurled it weakly at the bird, missing it by several feet, but effectively silencing it and scaring it off. Arthur followed its flight, and turned to her.
"There was no reason for that. I was taught to show kindness to all the earth's creatures," he said.
"Oh shut up," Sarah snapped, and kicked the wall. "It's not fair!"
Jareth slowly appeared right behind Arthur, who started noticeably. Pushing the man firmly aside, he stalked over to where Sarah was standing, relieved that she had been able to summon him at last, but trying to appear confident and disdainful.
"A clue?" he asked incredulously. "You want a clue?"
"Yes please," Sarah spat. "That is, if it's all the same to you. Your majesty." Inwardly, she was shocked at her words. Why was she treating him like this? She could see herself slipping into her old prejudices. She thought about what she had said to Anna, about how she had missed Jareth, desperately trying to recall some of those feelings. What on earth had happened to them?
It struck Sarah that that had been only yesterday. It felt like years had passed since she had felt anything but annoyance towards the Goblin King. Let's see, she thought. It had been six months since she had defeated Jareth and left the Labyrinth behind forever. Or, so she had thought at the time. Now, part of her hated the Goblin King with a passion, but another, very small part of her had other ideas. It was the same inner voice that knew he had been generous all along, without having to be told, the part that heard the pleading and desperation in his final words.
Stop. Wait. Look what I'm offering.
Shaken by an internal battle, Sarah sat down heavily on the low stone wall and propped her chin on her hand.
I ask for so little. Just let me rule you.
"I can't," she told the echoes in her mind. Somewhere far off, she heard herself say, "Don't you understand that I can't?" Shaking off the memories of the past, Sarah confronted herself again.
"Can't you see that you've always let him rule you?" said the small voice from her heart, mentally shaking its head.
"I…I don't understand," Sarah replied to herself. "What do you mean? He lost! I said the words. Didn't I?"
"You won the game, Sarah, but he won the bigger game. From the first time you picked up the little red book, the Labyrinth and its King were in control of your mind. You gave your life to a fantasy world, a better world. It was always for the best, but at the same time, Jareth has always ruled you. And you have enjoyed it."
Sarah paid attention to what her inner self was telling her. Chewing her nails in agitation, she stole a glance at Jareth every few minutes, to see whether he was somehow privy to what was transpiring in her head. But he seemed disinterested in what she was up to, and leant casually against a vine-covered wall, arms crossed and eyebrows raised, trying, it appeared, to intimidate Arthur into giving up. The latter, however, showed no signs of submitting, having, no doubt, dealt with many things worse than Jareth in his own kingdom, and simply sat on the wall watching the changing sky.
"You must stop treating him as the enemy," Sarah's mind went on. You are no longer antagonists – try to see him as a friend. Jareth is part of your life, as you became part of his."
"Wait!" Sarah held out a mental hand to stop herself. "In what way am I a part of his life? He kicks goblins, lounges around in tights, and takes babies, and I go to school and get made fun of. How do I fit into the goblins-tights-babies thing?"
"Sarah, I want you to look at him quickly, when he doesn't expect it, and look closely at his eyes. You'll see what I mean." And then Sarah was alone in her mind again. Hesitantly, she straightened, and was suddenly aware of someone looking at her. Without turning, she decided to take her own advice, on faith if nothing else.
Jareth, who at that moment had finally given up trying to frighten Arthur, suddenly noticed that Sarah had moved from her thinking position. Slowly levering himself from the wall, he ventured to look in her direction. He saw her hang her head momentarily, then shake back her hair and stare up at the sky. She looked nervous about something, although he was unable to say what, exactly.
"So," he asked, "just what sort of clue were you expecting me to give you? A large, shining arrow to light your way, perhaps?" He was openly mocking her.
Sarah was startled at his manner and turned away again. He followed, and stood behind her. Reaching out, he pulled her towards him by the shoulders and rested his clasped hands on the top of her head.
"Perhaps," he continued, leaning down to speak into her ear, "you might like one of these…." He freed a hand and conjured a crystal, reaching around her body to present it to her. "Do you want it?"
Sarah had felt him step up behind her, and was aware of his arm encircling her. At that one moment, she felt protected in Jareth's strange embrace. Impulsively, and hardly realizing what she was doing, she spun herself around in his arms.
Finding herself with her nose in Jareth's neck wasn't exactly part of Sarah's plan. But she made the most of the logistical error by quickly looking up to find Jareth's eyes fixed on hers.
He laughed quietly and tilted his head forward, so that his forehead was resting on hers. "Well, Sarah," he said, smiling benevolently, "I was wondering when you'd realize…." He leaned down to kiss her and closed his eyes.
Indignant, Sarah took a hasty step back and slapped him hard across one cheek.
He flew back about five feet and opened his eyes in shock.
"What was that?!" he gasped.
"That was for…for…whatever that was! Wait a minute! Why am I explaining things to you? What the hell was that? What were you thinking about?" She kicked at him, not really trying to hit him, but he retreated another step all the same.
"What was I thinking about?" Jareth was regaining a bit of his usual composure. "I thought that that should be obvious." He turned away and gestured behind him. A curtain of ivy swung away from a section of wall to reveal a low-set trap door.
"That door will lead to the Bog of Eternal Stench," he said, clasping his hands behind his back. Sarah immediately grabbed Arthur by the sleeve and slid feet first through the door, giving Jareth one more glare before she disappeared down the chute.
As soon as the two were gone, Jareth slumped against the nearest wall.
"Well," he said, to no one in particular, rubbing his cheek pensively. "That was unexpected." His normally pale face was beginning to show the traces of a faint bruise along one cheekbone.
"Oh really?" asked a small voice in his head. "You knew she would do that. You arrogant bastard."
"I cannot believe my own subconscious thinks I'm an arrogant bastard!" Jareth thought furiously. He spun around and stomped peevishly around a corner and back into his castle.