A/N: All right, so when I
started this story I made a rule for myself. No cheesy songfics! Alas and
alack, I got caught up in the sappy emotionalness of the funeral, and broke my
own rule. So, haters of songfics, or
haters of extreme angst and sadness, you might want to skip to the last
paragraph, which has an interesting bit of mystery.
Disclaimer: I, of course, do
not own Labyrinth or its characters. I
tried to buy it once at a garage sale, but Jim Henson beat me to it. I do not own the song "I wish" either. That belongs to R. Kelly. If anyone hears about him selling it in a
garage sale though, let me know.
For You
Part
Seven
Colors and sounds
blurred together as Sarah felt the floor ripped away from her feet. The only thing that seemed stable was the
arm Jareth had offered to her, and she clung to it to keep the world from
crashing down around her. Keeping her
eyes clutched shut, she leaned into Jareth until she felt the ground slam up
against her feet again.
"Are you
alright?" When Sarah opened her eyes
she found Jareth looking down at her intently.
"I'm fine. Just kind of…dizzy." Sarah
sighed, lightly rubbing her temples with one hand.
"It gets better after the first few times." Jareth said, and it was obvious that their
little journey didn't affect him at all.
Finally getting her bearings, Sarah found that they
had appeared just outside of the church she attended with her family.
"I believe the ceremony is about to begin." Jareth said gently. So far she hadn't noticed that he still had
her arm entwined in his.
"Jareth!" Sarah cried suddenly. "You can't
go in there looking like that." He was
wearing his usual attire of tights and poets shirt, though both were
respectfully black, Sarah noticed, looking him up and down. Then she noticed she was looking him up and
down and mentally smacked herself.
"What, pray tell, is wrong with the way I look?" Jareth inquired innocently.
"You cannot go into my little brother's funeral
looking like the high and mighty King of Spandex." Jareth smiled mockingly.
"Don't worry. No one will notice."
"What?"
"To them, I will appear…normal." He halfway spat the last word, as if it
tasted bad. "It's time." He added gently.
Sarah nodded, and they entered the church. The pews were already full of family
members, including some hillbilly types that Sarah assumed were the very
distant cousins Karen refused to discuss. Also present were some squirming toddlers and the parents they belonged
to, with whom Toby had gone to preschool.
Jareth led Sarah down the aisle, still arm in arm, to
the front pew where her father and Karen were seated. To Sarah, the aisle seemed miles long. Everyone turned and stared at her when they entered, and some
harsh whispering ensued, no doubt about her curious absence over the past few
days. Karen glanced over at Sarah as
they sat down, staring at Jareth and dying to ask questions, but then the
minister started.
Sarah snapped to attention when she heard his
voice. She withdrew her arm from
Jareth's, then immediately regretted this decision and looked at him
nervously. He took her hand in his
gloved one, and stroked it reassuringly.
"All too often," were the minister's opening
words. Cold and impersonal, like he had
given the same speech a dozen other times that day, "a young one is taken from
our midst too early and without warning."
Sarah felt the tears building up behind her eyes, and
she looked for some random object to concentrate on, to stare at to prevent
herself from sobbing. That was when her
eyes fell upon the coffin.
A tiny gasp escaped her lips, barely audible, but
Jareth heard it and looked at her with concern. The coffin was made of dark, mahogany wood. It glimmered in the bright sunshine that
came pouring through the stain glass windows. It was tiny, no more than four feet long. And it was shut.
Blood pounding in her ears, Sarah could no longer hear
the minister. All she could see was the
coffin, though she was dimly aware that the rest of the room was spinning. All she thought of was Toby. Toby, shut up all alone in that little
box. Her little brother, her little boy
shut up in a crate, never again to laugh, or play, or be taken away by the
goblins. He was gone.
Jareth's eyes widened in alarm as he watched Sarah go
into shock. She was shaking, and
clutching onto his hand with such fierceness her knuckles were turning
white. He could tell she was using all
her strength to fight back tears, to keep herself from making a scene. Her eyes were focused on the coffin. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and
drew her to him, and she sobbed quietly into his shoulder. Stroking her hair soothingly her murmured a
few charms to help calm her down. Glancing at Sarah's parents, he noticed they were oblivious to their
daughter's grief, as they were too wrapped up in their own.
As Sarah relaxed enough to get control over herself,
Jareth silently swore that he would find the bastard that did this, for this
was no car accident, and he would make sure he suffered the most painful death
anyone in history has or will ever suffer.
***
A few hours later, Sarah and Jareth stood before
Toby's grave, lightly holding hands. Karen and Sarah's father, Robert, were also still there, as well as a
few other family members. Most of those
present at the funeral had quickly paid their respects at the gravesite, and
then made their way to the merrier gathering Sarah's parents had orchestrated
at their house.
Robert touched his daughter's shoulder, and she looked
up at him with tear-stained eyes. "We're going to go see the guests back at the house now, okay
honey? Come home when you're
ready." Sarah nodded, and focused back
on staring intently at the headstone. Simple gray marble, with Toby's name, below which was the engraving,
Lost too soon, but never forgotten
Always an angelic babe
Next to this was an engraved sketch of an endearing cherub, though in
Sarah's opinion it looked far to innocent to suit Toby's mischievous ways.
They stood in silence for nearly a quarter of an hour
after Sarah's family had headed back to the house, when finally Jareth could
bear it no longer. Turning Sarah to
face him, he saw she was still crying. A single, solitary tear, trailed its way down her cheek. Carefully Jareth brushed it away with a
velvet-covered fingertip.
"What can I do?" He asked honestly. Sarah looked
up into his eyes, and half-smiled. He
had been the perfect gentleman all through this hellish day, though she could
sense something was building up inside him.
"Just stay here with me." She said softly, turning back to the stone.
"Rioting goblins couldn't move me." He replied, standing behind her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into him gratefully and held onto his arms as if they were all that was holding her up. They probably were.
I wish that I
could hold you now
I wish that I
could touch you now
I wish that I
could talk to you
Be with you
somehow
I know you're in a
better place
And you know I can
see your face
I know you're
smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
I'll see you again
someday
I wish, I wish, I
wish
I wish, I wish, I wish
And so they spent the next hour together, standing,
and staring.
***
Jareth only managed to convince Sarah to move when it
started to rain. Wrapping his cloak
around her shoulders, he guided her from the cemetery to her home, somehow
already knowing the way. It was Sarah
that finally broke the silence.
"Karen said on my answering machine that a friend of
mine called her. Might I assume that
was you?"
"You might." He answered.
"Why did you call her?" No rain was touching Sarah through Jareth's cloak, though her
hair was soaked, and Jareth appeared completely dry.
"There was no reason for your family to worry
unnecessarily."
"But didn't Karen ask you a thousand questions?"
"No, should she have?" Jareth was glad to get Sarah thinking about a different subject
for a while.
"It's just that she's always pressuring me to find
that perfect guy, and now some random guy she's never heard of appears and
claims to be a longtime friend of mine. I would expect you'd get the third degree."
"Karen, this is my friend, Brian." Sarah had said when Karen had intercepted
Brain at the door before Sarah could make a quick escape.
"Your friend?" Karen raised her eyebrows. "How
nice."
"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Williams." Brian had reached out and shaken her
hand.
"He seems like a very respectable young man." Karen had said the next day. Hah. If she only knew.
"Sarah?" Sarah
suddenly jerked out of her reverie. Jareth was looking down at her questioningly. "I do believe this is your home." He said, indicating the house before them.
"Right." Sarah
said, and led Jareth inside.
People were swarming in thick clumps in her foyer, and
Sarah practically had to fight her way through. She held tightly onto Jareth's hand, as she didn't very much like
the idea of him free to wander amongst her various family members. After a few hurried meeting with friends,
Sarah found Karen and her father talking in a corner.
"Sarah!" Karen
said rather warmly.
"Hi honey." Her father said with a note of sadness. He kissed his daughter lightly on the top of the head. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Jareth." Sarah answered somewhat reluctantly.
"Hello Jareth." Sarah's father shook his hand.
"Yes, we spoke on the phone earlier, didn't we?" Karen asked, smiling. Jareth nodded royally in assent.
"It's so nice to know someone has been looking after
my little girl." Sarah's father
continued, his voice cracking a little at the end.
"The pleasure was all mine." Jareth answered.
"Sarah, can I have a word with you? Alone?" Karen asked sweetly. Great,
thought Sarah, here comes the interrogation. Reluctant as she was to leave Jareth alone, she allowed Karen to
drag her off to the kitchen.
***
"So, Sarah, tell me about Jareth. Are you two serious?" Sarah's eyes widened with shock.
"Serious? There's nothing to be serious about. We are just friends."
"Calm down, I didn't mean to bring up a sensitive
subject." Sarah could tell Karen was
really trying to be amiable, so she tried to restrain herself from yelling.
"It's okay, I just, I don't really know how I feel
about him."
"What's his last name? What does he do? He's
certainly high on looks and charm." Sarah chose to ignore that last comment.
"He's Jareth…King. Jareth King." Sarah said
decisively. "And he's in the, the
daycare business." Ooh, Jareth would
hate her later for that comment.
Karen glanced back out into the living room. Hesitantly she persisted. "Are you sure there's nothing between you
two?"
"Why do you keep asking?" Sarah sighed.
"Because he's been staring at you this entire
time." Sarah whirled around and saw
Jareth, mismatched eyes focused on her. Blushing, she quickly looked away.
"Ahh Sarah, there you are." Her father came in, his car keys in hand. "I was wondering if you could do us a little
favor."
"What is it?" Sarah asked, very willing to help out her parents, anything to distract
herself from Jareth's penetrating stares.
"The police took the van to the impound lot, after the
accident." This made sense. "But in all that was going on, Karen left
her purse in the van." This also made
sense. Karen was very scatterbrained at
times. "It has all her id's and such in
it, and neither of us had the heart to go and get it." Sarah suddenly got a bad feeling in the pit
of her stomach. "Could you, possibly,
go and pick it up?"
Sarah's heart sank. The one thing, she did not want to see, with all her being, was the
wrecked car. But the pleading look in
her father's eyes was simply impossible to refuse. "Of course." She said,
trying to sound happy about it, instead of passionately dreading it.
Grabbing the keys to her father's car, she went back
out into the crowd of sympathetic well-wishers to find Jareth. "You're coming with me." She said.
***
Jareth had not thought about his kingdom all day. Being too caught up with ensuring Sarah's
comfort, he simply had not the time.
He discovered that Sarah was dealing with her grief by
taking on a very serious, possessive, and demanding no-nonsense type of
personality, which did not entirely bother him. She told him exactly what to do, where to go, and Jareth had
never seen this side of her before. He
rather enjoyed being bossed around by his Sarah.
However, if he had taken the time to wonder what was
happening in his kingdom, he might have stopped and glanced at his castle
through a crystal. What he would have
seen would have upset him, troubled him, or at least would have caused a
murderous rage to rise inside him. But
for the moment, he was blissfully ignorant, and certain Underground residents
preferred it that way.
***
Sarah and Jareth followed the officer on duty at the
impound lot, who led them to Karen's van. Sarah's hand flew to her mouth when she saw it.
The driver's side of the green minivan had been
completely crushed, the side mirror hanging by a thread, the window
smashed. Sarah was amazed that Karen
had lived through such an impact. Taking a moment to regain her composure, she went around to the
passenger side door, which was unscathed, to retrieve Karen's purse. It had slid underneath the passenger seat,
and Sarah dug it out.
Before climbing out of the car, she glanced at Toby's
car seat. She smiled, remembering how
much he hated it. But then something
glittering caught her eye. She leaned
across the van to pull the small object from the car seat. Sarah gasped as she recognized the object as
something she had not seen in years. Something small, and dainty, that had once been her own. Something plastic.
Scrambling out of the car, she waved the object at
Jareth. "We have to go back to the
Underground." She gasped. "Now."
***
Super huge thanx go to everyone who's reviewed so
far:
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luv, but he's all dead, does the funeral proove it?), Crystalis Blade, Kaze,
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(ooh, you gave me four reviews, I really really like you!), Jess, Unicorn Lady
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(sorry babe, but it's definatly Jareth. Check the credits if you don't believe me), Baby Bear, Silver Space,
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encourage you to read more?), and a few annoymous reviewers!
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