X-treme Circumstances Part 13
Sarah placed her cup of Bliss onto the table and was startled to see the table shake, spilling her drink.
"Alright, who kicked the table?," Sarah asked.
No one took the blame.
"I say milady, it is not any of us. Then entire castle is shaking," Sir Dydimus answered as he pointed to a chandelier that was rocking back and forth. He then walked to a window, "In fact, the whole kingdom is shaking."
"I didn't know you had earthquakes, "Sarah stated.
"We don't," Hoggle replied, "It just happens to be that whenever something happens to Jareth, the kingdom is affected in some way. Before you and your friends came here, there was an earthquake earlier."
"Oh I see," Sarah commented before she put things together, "Wait a minute... Something happened to Jareth?!"
"Yeah," Hoggle answered, "Don't know what exactly. But judging from the condition the Labyrinth is in, I'd say that he's still alive. Won't know for sure for about a day."
"What?!," Sarah exclaimed, "We have to help him!"
"And just how do you intend to help him?," Hoggle asked, "Who or whatever has managed to distress Jareth in any form must be a formidable opponent. You won't last against someone of that caliber."
"True," Sarah answered, "But what if I wasn't alone? You guys could help me."
"What?.. Us?.. Save Jareth?... Why would we put our butts on the line for him ? "
"First of all, if he dies, the Labyrinth dies or comes close to it and the last time I checked this is your home. Besides, You've already helped him before so what's one more time going to do?"
Hoggle reluctantly nodded, "Very well. You have a point there... but I could always move you know!"
Sarah sighed, 'Please... help him if not for your sake than for my sake. I don't know what I'd do if he died."
"Well milady, being that you care for this man, I believe that I speak for the others when I say we will help.," Didymus answered.
He looked at the others, "Right?"
They nodded.
Sarah smiled, "Good... Lets go then. To the Library!"
"But where are we going? You don't know where Jareth is.,' Hoggle asked.
"True but I know of some people that can help."
*******************************************************************
Jareth opened his eyes and saw darkness. The room's lights had been turned off leaving him with no means of seeing his surroundings. "Where am I?," he asked out loud, not expecting an answer from the dark null that surrounded him.
His head ached so he absentmindedly raised his hand to his head. Well.... He tried to at least. Painfully, he found that his wrists were pinned down by a metallic brace.
He didn't need a light to realize what exactly he was restrained to. He had woken up on a version of it in Xavier's infirmary and so knew what an examining table felt like. This table was slightly tilted though and had it not been for the restraints he felt around his wrists and chest, he'd probably would have slid off of it's cold surface.
Checking to see if his legs were pinned down the same way, he tried moving his feet. They too, were restrained.
He cursed. They really got him good. He really had believed that Magneto was falling for his criticism of Xavier.
How could he have been so stupid? He had actually believed that telling them that he wasn't interested in either side would solve this problem. But it looked like that if he weren't going to work with them, they wouldn't allow him the opportunity to work with anybody else.
Hearing a door open, he looked over to where the light was escaping from the doorway and saw a silhouette of a person about his height only with a larger build. As the room was bathed in the unnatural light of the florescent bulbs, Jareth squinted his eyes until they could get used to the new light.
When his eyes focused, he looked at the man standing near him.
The man was dressed mainly in blue with a hint of red and black in his outfit as well. Other than for the color, it looked like something Jareth would have worn had his kingdom gone to war with another.
Looking at the man's pale face, he asked him one question.
"Ummm... is it too late to change my mind?"
The other guy laughed.
"Didn't think so..."
"Glad to see that you have a sense of humor," the man said with a sneer.
Jareth looked at the man, "Who are you?"
The man smiled, 'Sinister, Mr. Sinister." (Bonus points to those who figured that one out. hee hee.)
"What kind of name is that?!," Jareth said with a laugh.
Most likely this was not the type of reaction Sinister had in mind. He scowled, "Well, Its a rather descriptive name. I am a sinister person therefore I'm Mr. Sinister."
Jareth howled with laughter, forgetting the position he was in, "Sinister... That's nice and all but you don't see me calling myself Mr. Magic now do you?!"
Sinister walked away from Jareth, not wanting to hear this ridicule. This wasn't supposed to happen. Jareth was the prisoner and yet he's the one doing the mocking!
"Wait! Wait! I got it!... Some have called me handsome so... I'll no longer be called Jareth! I'll be called Mr. Handsome!"
Sinister rolled his eyes, turned off the lights, and closed the door, leaving Jareth in hysterics.
"I know! Mr. Charming!"
*************************************************************************************
Sarah and her friends made it to the Library doors. Strangely the doors were wide open as if they knew that Jareth needed help.
Walking over to the mirror she had stepped through earlier, she gave her friends a reassuring smile as she jumped through the mirror.
Sarah landed hard on the grass and looked around. She was outside the familiar residence of the X-men.
Hearing her friends landing on the ground, she turned around and smiled, "We're here!"
"Where's here?," Hoggle asked.
"The X-men compound... Home of a friend of mine."
************************************************************************************
Gambit looked over at the security monitor and saw something interesting in one of the screens. Enlarging the image, he smiled as he recognized two of the figures.
"Hey Wolverine!," he called out to Logan, "Looks like Sarah got out of Jareth's castle!"
Wolverine looked at the image and noticed the concerned look on her face.
"Something tells me she's not here for a casual visit."
He and Gambit went out to greet Sarah and her three friends.
**********************************************************************************
Jubilee glanced out a window and motioned James over to see outside.
"Isn't that Sarah?"
James smiled, "I think it is! I wonder what she's doing here."
He looked over to Jubilee, "Well, one way is to ask."
Jubilee smiled, "Let's go."
********************************************************************************
Magneto looked at Sinister as he left the room that held Jareth. He could hear laughter from behind the door.
"What's so funny?," Magneto asked Sinister.
Sinister just grumbled and walked past him, not giving an answer.
Mystique chuckled, 'seems that even as a prisoner, Jareth can have an influence on people."
Magneto nodded and tried to conceal a smile. He just loved it when Sinister was the brunt of the joke.
He opened the door that led to where Jareth was and walked in. He turned on the light.
"Hello again Jareth," Magneto said to Jareth.
Jareth looked at Magneto and managed to control his laughter, "Hey."
Magneto was a little surprised with the civility Jareth was speaking to him with.
"Sorry about this Jareth but we can't have people like you running around and ruining our plans. You seem to have a knack for that.'
"But I only ruined one of your plans," Jareth argued, "And I was saving Sarah. Not Senator windbag!"
Magneto shook his head, "No. you ruined two plans. One was that assassination attempt that's for sure but don't forget that you also turned us down."
He stepped closer, "Oh. And Jareth, you need to work on your lying traits. I'm not an idiot."
"I'll keep that in mind next time, "Jareth grumbled.
"There on't be a next time Jareth," Magneto said, " Sinister has made a plan that you won't ruin.
He frowned, "A pity really. I was starting to like you. You have personality."
He turned to leave but stopped as he remembered something.
"Oh Jareth, I'm curious...," Magneto started.
Jareth looked at him, "Yeah what?"
Magneto stepped closer once again, "Earlier you said that when you make a decision, it can affect thousands... What do you mean by that?"
Jareth sighed, "I'd thought you knew that. you seem to know what my amulet does and what I am."
"All I know is that you are not a mutant but yet have power," Magneto said, "What exactly are youi? Are you even part human? And how can you remain so calm when you don't even know what's going o happen?"
"The answers are simple. No, I am not part human. I am a pure blooded Fae. As to remaining calm... You don't know what's going to happen either. I am connected to my kingdom. Whatever happens to me, my homeland knows. so I still believe I have some sort of advantage even without my amulet."
HE laughed, "Besides... How can you be worried about a man with a stupid name like 'Mr. sinister? What's next? Mr. malicious?... Mr. Evil?... how about Mr. Mean?"
Magneto laughed, "You have a point there but you may want to worry more about his reputation than his name."
With that, Magneto left.
******************************************************
Jubilee and James reached Sarah just a minute after Wolverine and Gambit made their way over to greet the newcomers.
Jubilee gave Sarah a big hug, "Welcome back Sarah!"
She then noticed a worried look on her face, "What's wrong?"
Sarah frowned. "It's Jareth," she explained, "I know he's in trouble but I don't know where he is or what has happened."
She looked at the surprised look on Jubilee's face and sighed. "You don't know where he is either... do you?," she asked.
Jubilee shook her head. When Sarah looked at Gambit and Wolverine she saw that they were shaking their head as well.
"We knew he was planning to track down Mystique," Gambit answered, "What the rest of his plan was, we don't know."
Sarah shook her head, "My guess is that Jareth didn't plan on anything and was just going to wing it." She frowned as a disturbing thought came to mind, "We're not going to find him are we?"
Wolverine frowned, "Well, it will be hard to do but not completely impossible. With Cerebro out of commision, we won't be able to use it to help us search so the ground we cover will be some."
Gambit saw a look of hopelessness come across her face and decided to make it seem not as bad, "Well, most likely they are in this area. So that narrows down the options a bit. Still, I wish we had a clue to a possible place he could be..."
*************************************************************************
Jareth smiled after Magneto left. unlike sinister, he left the light on.
taking the time to study his surroundings, he noticed a lab table, like the one he was strapped to, next to him. Apparently, he wouldn't be the only guest in this room.
He glanced over to his other side and saw a large counter covered with medical supplies His face showed a look of surprise as he recognized his amulet on the countertop. He could see it perfectly but it wastoo far for him to use its full energy.
Damn! Sinister really had done his homework. He had put it just out of the reach of Jareth's control for most things.
Jareth sighed. Only one possible use for the item came to mind. Closing his eyes, he concentrated hard... soon, a faint glow came from the amulet and quickly faded. Hopefully that would be all he needed to do...
***************************************************************************
James felt a strange sensation around his neck and curiously looked down to find his pendant was glowing.
"Hey Jubilee, look at this," he said as he held the pendant up for her to see.
Jubilee looked at it, "How'd you do that?"
"It started glowing on its own, "James explained, 'I didn't do anything."
Sarah looked at the amulet and gave a questioning look, "Where'd you get this anyway?"
"From Xavier, he said that Jareth thought I should have it. some kind of symbol of power."
Sarah smiled, "This is great!"
Logan looked at her, "How so?"
"Don't you see?," Sarah asked, "Jareth had this given to James where its a symbol of his power. Jareth had a pendant of his own as well and he wore it pretty much everywhere.... Perhaps they are more than just symbols of power. Maybe the symbols are somehow connected to each other? that could mean that glow is a distress call or something.."
"Of course!, It makes perfect sense now! (no it doesn't)," Jubilee said cheerfully, "We can use this to find Jareth"
"And how exactly is it going to help us find him?," James asked as he held it up once again, "Ask it to show me where Jareth is?"
As if on cue, James could see a different scenery than the one he saw a few seconds earlier. Instead of the landscape of the Compound before him, an areial view of the area surrounding the compound was shown. After a few minutes, it seemed as if he were flying towards this one building and then entering it. After that, the image left his mind.
James looked at Wolverine. "I think I know how we can find Jareth," he said with a slight smile, "But it requires use of the jet."
Logan just nodded, "Let's go then."
Sarah placed her cup of Bliss onto the table and was startled to see the table shake, spilling her drink.
"Alright, who kicked the table?," Sarah asked.
No one took the blame.
"I say milady, it is not any of us. Then entire castle is shaking," Sir Dydimus answered as he pointed to a chandelier that was rocking back and forth. He then walked to a window, "In fact, the whole kingdom is shaking."
"I didn't know you had earthquakes, "Sarah stated.
"We don't," Hoggle replied, "It just happens to be that whenever something happens to Jareth, the kingdom is affected in some way. Before you and your friends came here, there was an earthquake earlier."
"Oh I see," Sarah commented before she put things together, "Wait a minute... Something happened to Jareth?!"
"Yeah," Hoggle answered, "Don't know what exactly. But judging from the condition the Labyrinth is in, I'd say that he's still alive. Won't know for sure for about a day."
"What?!," Sarah exclaimed, "We have to help him!"
"And just how do you intend to help him?," Hoggle asked, "Who or whatever has managed to distress Jareth in any form must be a formidable opponent. You won't last against someone of that caliber."
"True," Sarah answered, "But what if I wasn't alone? You guys could help me."
"What?.. Us?.. Save Jareth?... Why would we put our butts on the line for him ? "
"First of all, if he dies, the Labyrinth dies or comes close to it and the last time I checked this is your home. Besides, You've already helped him before so what's one more time going to do?"
Hoggle reluctantly nodded, "Very well. You have a point there... but I could always move you know!"
Sarah sighed, 'Please... help him if not for your sake than for my sake. I don't know what I'd do if he died."
"Well milady, being that you care for this man, I believe that I speak for the others when I say we will help.," Didymus answered.
He looked at the others, "Right?"
They nodded.
Sarah smiled, "Good... Lets go then. To the Library!"
"But where are we going? You don't know where Jareth is.,' Hoggle asked.
"True but I know of some people that can help."
*******************************************************************
Jareth opened his eyes and saw darkness. The room's lights had been turned off leaving him with no means of seeing his surroundings. "Where am I?," he asked out loud, not expecting an answer from the dark null that surrounded him.
His head ached so he absentmindedly raised his hand to his head. Well.... He tried to at least. Painfully, he found that his wrists were pinned down by a metallic brace.
He didn't need a light to realize what exactly he was restrained to. He had woken up on a version of it in Xavier's infirmary and so knew what an examining table felt like. This table was slightly tilted though and had it not been for the restraints he felt around his wrists and chest, he'd probably would have slid off of it's cold surface.
Checking to see if his legs were pinned down the same way, he tried moving his feet. They too, were restrained.
He cursed. They really got him good. He really had believed that Magneto was falling for his criticism of Xavier.
How could he have been so stupid? He had actually believed that telling them that he wasn't interested in either side would solve this problem. But it looked like that if he weren't going to work with them, they wouldn't allow him the opportunity to work with anybody else.
Hearing a door open, he looked over to where the light was escaping from the doorway and saw a silhouette of a person about his height only with a larger build. As the room was bathed in the unnatural light of the florescent bulbs, Jareth squinted his eyes until they could get used to the new light.
When his eyes focused, he looked at the man standing near him.
The man was dressed mainly in blue with a hint of red and black in his outfit as well. Other than for the color, it looked like something Jareth would have worn had his kingdom gone to war with another.
Looking at the man's pale face, he asked him one question.
"Ummm... is it too late to change my mind?"
The other guy laughed.
"Didn't think so..."
"Glad to see that you have a sense of humor," the man said with a sneer.
Jareth looked at the man, "Who are you?"
The man smiled, 'Sinister, Mr. Sinister." (Bonus points to those who figured that one out. hee hee.)
"What kind of name is that?!," Jareth said with a laugh.
Most likely this was not the type of reaction Sinister had in mind. He scowled, "Well, Its a rather descriptive name. I am a sinister person therefore I'm Mr. Sinister."
Jareth howled with laughter, forgetting the position he was in, "Sinister... That's nice and all but you don't see me calling myself Mr. Magic now do you?!"
Sinister walked away from Jareth, not wanting to hear this ridicule. This wasn't supposed to happen. Jareth was the prisoner and yet he's the one doing the mocking!
"Wait! Wait! I got it!... Some have called me handsome so... I'll no longer be called Jareth! I'll be called Mr. Handsome!"
Sinister rolled his eyes, turned off the lights, and closed the door, leaving Jareth in hysterics.
"I know! Mr. Charming!"
*************************************************************************************
Sarah and her friends made it to the Library doors. Strangely the doors were wide open as if they knew that Jareth needed help.
Walking over to the mirror she had stepped through earlier, she gave her friends a reassuring smile as she jumped through the mirror.
Sarah landed hard on the grass and looked around. She was outside the familiar residence of the X-men.
Hearing her friends landing on the ground, she turned around and smiled, "We're here!"
"Where's here?," Hoggle asked.
"The X-men compound... Home of a friend of mine."
************************************************************************************
Gambit looked over at the security monitor and saw something interesting in one of the screens. Enlarging the image, he smiled as he recognized two of the figures.
"Hey Wolverine!," he called out to Logan, "Looks like Sarah got out of Jareth's castle!"
Wolverine looked at the image and noticed the concerned look on her face.
"Something tells me she's not here for a casual visit."
He and Gambit went out to greet Sarah and her three friends.
**********************************************************************************
Jubilee glanced out a window and motioned James over to see outside.
"Isn't that Sarah?"
James smiled, "I think it is! I wonder what she's doing here."
He looked over to Jubilee, "Well, one way is to ask."
Jubilee smiled, "Let's go."
********************************************************************************
Magneto looked at Sinister as he left the room that held Jareth. He could hear laughter from behind the door.
"What's so funny?," Magneto asked Sinister.
Sinister just grumbled and walked past him, not giving an answer.
Mystique chuckled, 'seems that even as a prisoner, Jareth can have an influence on people."
Magneto nodded and tried to conceal a smile. He just loved it when Sinister was the brunt of the joke.
He opened the door that led to where Jareth was and walked in. He turned on the light.
"Hello again Jareth," Magneto said to Jareth.
Jareth looked at Magneto and managed to control his laughter, "Hey."
Magneto was a little surprised with the civility Jareth was speaking to him with.
"Sorry about this Jareth but we can't have people like you running around and ruining our plans. You seem to have a knack for that.'
"But I only ruined one of your plans," Jareth argued, "And I was saving Sarah. Not Senator windbag!"
Magneto shook his head, "No. you ruined two plans. One was that assassination attempt that's for sure but don't forget that you also turned us down."
He stepped closer, "Oh. And Jareth, you need to work on your lying traits. I'm not an idiot."
"I'll keep that in mind next time, "Jareth grumbled.
"There on't be a next time Jareth," Magneto said, " Sinister has made a plan that you won't ruin.
He frowned, "A pity really. I was starting to like you. You have personality."
He turned to leave but stopped as he remembered something.
"Oh Jareth, I'm curious...," Magneto started.
Jareth looked at him, "Yeah what?"
Magneto stepped closer once again, "Earlier you said that when you make a decision, it can affect thousands... What do you mean by that?"
Jareth sighed, "I'd thought you knew that. you seem to know what my amulet does and what I am."
"All I know is that you are not a mutant but yet have power," Magneto said, "What exactly are youi? Are you even part human? And how can you remain so calm when you don't even know what's going o happen?"
"The answers are simple. No, I am not part human. I am a pure blooded Fae. As to remaining calm... You don't know what's going to happen either. I am connected to my kingdom. Whatever happens to me, my homeland knows. so I still believe I have some sort of advantage even without my amulet."
HE laughed, "Besides... How can you be worried about a man with a stupid name like 'Mr. sinister? What's next? Mr. malicious?... Mr. Evil?... how about Mr. Mean?"
Magneto laughed, "You have a point there but you may want to worry more about his reputation than his name."
With that, Magneto left.
******************************************************
Jubilee and James reached Sarah just a minute after Wolverine and Gambit made their way over to greet the newcomers.
Jubilee gave Sarah a big hug, "Welcome back Sarah!"
She then noticed a worried look on her face, "What's wrong?"
Sarah frowned. "It's Jareth," she explained, "I know he's in trouble but I don't know where he is or what has happened."
She looked at the surprised look on Jubilee's face and sighed. "You don't know where he is either... do you?," she asked.
Jubilee shook her head. When Sarah looked at Gambit and Wolverine she saw that they were shaking their head as well.
"We knew he was planning to track down Mystique," Gambit answered, "What the rest of his plan was, we don't know."
Sarah shook her head, "My guess is that Jareth didn't plan on anything and was just going to wing it." She frowned as a disturbing thought came to mind, "We're not going to find him are we?"
Wolverine frowned, "Well, it will be hard to do but not completely impossible. With Cerebro out of commision, we won't be able to use it to help us search so the ground we cover will be some."
Gambit saw a look of hopelessness come across her face and decided to make it seem not as bad, "Well, most likely they are in this area. So that narrows down the options a bit. Still, I wish we had a clue to a possible place he could be..."
*************************************************************************
Jareth smiled after Magneto left. unlike sinister, he left the light on.
taking the time to study his surroundings, he noticed a lab table, like the one he was strapped to, next to him. Apparently, he wouldn't be the only guest in this room.
He glanced over to his other side and saw a large counter covered with medical supplies His face showed a look of surprise as he recognized his amulet on the countertop. He could see it perfectly but it wastoo far for him to use its full energy.
Damn! Sinister really had done his homework. He had put it just out of the reach of Jareth's control for most things.
Jareth sighed. Only one possible use for the item came to mind. Closing his eyes, he concentrated hard... soon, a faint glow came from the amulet and quickly faded. Hopefully that would be all he needed to do...
***************************************************************************
James felt a strange sensation around his neck and curiously looked down to find his pendant was glowing.
"Hey Jubilee, look at this," he said as he held the pendant up for her to see.
Jubilee looked at it, "How'd you do that?"
"It started glowing on its own, "James explained, 'I didn't do anything."
Sarah looked at the amulet and gave a questioning look, "Where'd you get this anyway?"
"From Xavier, he said that Jareth thought I should have it. some kind of symbol of power."
Sarah smiled, "This is great!"
Logan looked at her, "How so?"
"Don't you see?," Sarah asked, "Jareth had this given to James where its a symbol of his power. Jareth had a pendant of his own as well and he wore it pretty much everywhere.... Perhaps they are more than just symbols of power. Maybe the symbols are somehow connected to each other? that could mean that glow is a distress call or something.."
"Of course!, It makes perfect sense now! (no it doesn't)," Jubilee said cheerfully, "We can use this to find Jareth"
"And how exactly is it going to help us find him?," James asked as he held it up once again, "Ask it to show me where Jareth is?"
As if on cue, James could see a different scenery than the one he saw a few seconds earlier. Instead of the landscape of the Compound before him, an areial view of the area surrounding the compound was shown. After a few minutes, it seemed as if he were flying towards this one building and then entering it. After that, the image left his mind.
James looked at Wolverine. "I think I know how we can find Jareth," he said with a slight smile, "But it requires use of the jet."
Logan just nodded, "Let's go then."