A/N: I'm very proud of all of
you who guessed what Sarah found in the van (I'm going to have to try harder to
surprise you, aren't I?), and for everyone that didn't, don't worry. This chapter has some explanations in it,
as well as my favorite scene so far. I
hope this tides you over for a bit, as it's rather long.
Disclaimer: Do you really want
to sue me for using these characters that I don't own?
For You
Part Eight
"Sarah? Sarah? Sarah…are you going to explain what the problem is or just run off on a tirade?" Jareth asked as they appeared in his throne room. He had taken her back to the Labyrinth without question, and understandably so. Who was he to wonder why his lost love wanted to come back with him? From the look in Sarah's eyes, however, Jareth could tell that her return to the Underground had nothing to do with his undying love for her.
"It's this." She cried breathlessly, shoving a plastic braclet in Jareth's face.
"What is this?"
"It's a braclet I gave to Hoggle when he helped me find Toby."
"And…?" Jareth asked airily.
"And I found it in the van, by Toby's carseat. Oh God." Sarah sighed, and Jareth guided her to his throne, and she collapsed into it. "Do you think Hoggle had anything to with this?" She asked in a low, scared whisper.
"Sarah," Jareth said gently, taking her hands in his. "Didn't you once say he was your friend?" Sarah nodded dumbly. "Then I'm certain he wouldn't do anything to hurt you." Sarah smiled at him gratefully.
"All the same, I think I'm going to talk to him. I'm sure he has a reasonable explanation." She turned and walked briskly out of the throne room, down the castle halls and out into the maze. Jareth watched her go.
"If that insufferable wretch had anything to do with this, I'll cut off his ears and force feed them to him." He muttered under his breath. And though he knew this was a very pressing matter, there was one other thing that had to be done before he could focus all his attention on it. He had to convince Sarah of his love.
***
"Left, straight, right, right." Sarah murmured, trying to find her way back to the secret cavern Hoggle had shown her. She felt as though she was stumbling in circles, but she must have had a better sense of direction than she thought, for soon she found herself facing a familiar-looking dead end. "This has to be it." She assured herself. But how was she supposed to get in?
"Open up." She ordered the wall. The wall, of course, made no response. "Open up!" She repeated, a bit louder. "Let me in, damnit!" She cried, hitting the wall, only to end up bruising her hand. Suddenly a large slab of brick disappeared, and a gnome with the usual black garb stuck his head out.
"Hey!" He shouted. "What's the big idea? I don' go 'round smashing your house down!"
"Where's Hoggle?" Sarah spat, and perhaps if this gnome creature didn't have his hood over his eyes he would have seen her seething with rage, and would have refrained from making his next comment.
"What's it to you, wench?"
"Let…me…in." Sarah growled.
After muttering something unintelligible but decidedly rude under his breath, the gnome gave a mock bow, and taped the sides of the opening in the wall, making it large enough for Sarah to step through.
"Thank you." Sarah, though furious, was determined to act with better manners than that annoying little creature. "Now where's Hoggle?"
"Find him yourself." That was the wrong answer. Sarah gave in to her pent up frustrations from the day's trials, and told exactly what she would do with that gnome in very graphic terms if she wasn't already otherwise occupied.
Storming around, fuming, Sarah was not in the mood to properly observe her surroundings. Therefore, she strode past a remarkably large armory, a curtained off room, and a group of elves trying to dissect a crystal, before she found Hoggle alone in a corner, apparently thinking very deeply.
"You'll never guess what I found." Sarah announced, regaining control over herself.
"Sarah? What are yeh doing back?" Hoggle gasped in astonishment.
"Don't you want to know what I found?" Sarah continued, in no mood for small talk. With all her heart she wanted to believe that Hoggle had absolutely no part in this. But she was being realistic, stealing herself up for what might be the awful truth. "Look." Sarah said, thrusting Hoggle the bracelet.
"Where did yeh find this?" Hoggle exclaimed, eagerly grabbing the bracelet.
"That depends. Where did you leave it?"
"Sarah! Yeh don' think I would loose a present like this, do yeh?" Hoggle asked, genuinely happy to have his gift returned, and a little confused. "Last year the goblins took all me jewels in taxes. Every last one."
"Taxes?" Sarah repeated. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. Why?" Sarah ignored his question.
"What happens to the stuff that's collected? Who does it go to?" Sarah asked breathlessly.
"Jareth. Who else?"
***
Jareth was pacing. He was anxious for Sarah to return. What would she do? Would she demand to be taken home? How much time would he have with her? He considered finding her with one of his crystals, but it felt too much like spying. So he would wait. And wonder.
As it turned out, Jareth didn't have to wait long. He met her no more that two hours after she left, as she walked slowly back to the castle from where ever it was she had found that dwarf of hers. Sarah was unusually quiet as he led her to dinner, silent even, but Jareth allowed it. It had, after all, been a very long day.
"I talked to Hoggle." Sarah said suddenly, after spending most of the meal twisting her napkin into knots.
"I surmised as much." Jareth said nonchalantly.
"He said that the bracelet I gave him – the one I found in the van – was taken by one of your goblins sometime last year for taxes." Jareth arched his eyebrows in surprise.
"Ridiculous. My goblins know better than to waste their time with bits of plastic." He said with an air of superiority.
"Are you sure we're talking about the same goblins?" Sarah shot back. "Because the only ones I see are currently trying to carve a chicken with spoons."
"Well then, what else did your friend have to say?"
"He said that the taxes were brought straight to you." Sarah said this softly, but Jareth began to laugh.
"Now Sarah, is that an accusation?"
"How can you sit there and laugh? It isn't funny." Sarah declared, throwing her napking down on the table.
"No it isn't." Jareth retorted. "But allow me to ask you this. Did it ever occur to you that Hoggle might be lying?"
"I don't know, Jareth. I don't know what to think anymore. And you aren't helping."
"Do I make you angry, Sarah dear?" Jareth chided.
"Do you make me angry?" Sarah repeated incredulously. "You make me want to scream!" Sarah leapt up quickly, knocking her chair over. "And throw things. Really big things. Like chairs. And tables. And…other, bigger pieces of furniture!"
"Honestly Sarah. I thought you trusted me." Jareth spoke in a lightly mocking tone.
"I trust you about as far as I can throw you." Sarah quipped. Jareth strode quickly over to her, took her hand, and gently brushed it with his lips.
"Now, fair one, it's up to you." And he disappeared in a cloud of sparkling dust.
***
Sarah didn't want to stay. But she wasn't ready to give up either. She was trying to explain this to Cara while she made her bed.
"I just don't know who to believe. One of them must be lying to me. And I can't stand the thought that Hoggle would do anything to me."
"What of Jareth?" Cara asked slyly as she spread the sheets across Sarah's bed.
"I know what you're infering, and it's not true. The man is insufferable."
"Of course he is. He's vain, and arrogant, and quite contradictory, and –"
"He's not all that bad!" Sarah exclaimed inspite of herself.
"Come now, miss. I have been working for him for quite some time now, and he can be positively horrid."
"He is not. He's charming, and chivalrous, and oh God, now I'm defending him." Sarah sighed, sinking down onto the bed.
"Perhaps that means you have deeper feelings for his Majesty than you realize." Cara said gently.
"I don't!" Sarah cried stubbornly, though tracing her fingers lightly over the back of her other hand. She could almost still feel his soft lips sweeping across it. "I can't! I won't! I, I…I do. I do, don't I?" Sarah didn't need an answer. "Damn."
Cara left Sarah to her thoughts, though sleep claimed her shortly after she slid into the covers.
***
Her room was flooded with unusually bright light when Sarah awoke. It was the kind of lovely light when the morning sun reflects off of freshly fallen snow. And sure enough, when Sarah ran to the balcony, she found the Labyrinth covered in a thick blanket of white.
Hurriedly she bathed and dressed in the warm wine-colored dress and charcoal gray cloak she found laid out for her, and ran out to the castle's front gates. An owl flew beside her, its coat perfectly matching the snow. The counterfit quickly changed into his natural shape, and the Goblin King offered to accompany Sarah through the winter wondrerland that had over taken his kindgdom
"Wow." Sarah breathed, snow crunching softly under her feet. "I didn't know it snowed in the Underground."
"It doesn't." Jareth said, leading her through the gardens that were now completely white. When Sarah stared at him with confusion he added, "Consider it a gift."
Sarah walked slowly, admiring the softly falling snow. Jareth walked slowly, admiring Sarah. She stooped down and scooped up a handful of the powdry stuff, intending to just feel how soft it was. But before she thought about what she was doing, an extremely childish impulse latched onto her, and she launched the ball in the Goblin King's direction. It hit him squarely on the back, leaving a white imprint on his long cloak.
He whirled around to face her. "Did you really just throw a snowball at me?" He asked incredulously.
"Looks that way." Sarah answered, trying to mask her hesitation with indifference. He wasn't really going to be mad at her, was he? Sarah backed away as he started towards her, holding her hands out in front of her. "Jareth, I –" she started, but in a blink of an eye he had smacked her with four snowballs, one right after another.
Sarah stood frozen for a moment, her mouth and eyes opened wide. Quickly she tossed another snowball at him, but he deflected it with a flick of his wrist. "Hey, no fair!" She cried. "You can't use magic!"
"Oh can't I?" Jareth laughed, and started after her stealthily, armed with snow. Sarah ducked into the hedge maze, but wasn't safe for long. Jareth appeared at every turn, but disappeared too quickly for Sarah to hit him. She came out in the courtyard in the center of the hedge maze, and found Jareth standing smugly in the middle. She tossed a ball his way but he disappeared before the snow even made contact.
"Hey! Stay in one place for a minute!" Sarah laughed. Suddenly she felt his arms wrap around her from behind. "Gotcha." He whispered in her ear. For a moment she didn't want to move. She felt safe, secure, and she sunk into his embrace. Jareth was surprised when she leaned into him, and even more so when she suddenly slipped out again. He snatched at her as she ran away, but only brushed her hair.
As the game continued, Sarah noticed curiously that while her hair was damp and windswept, Jareth's was still perfectly styled, untouched by the snow. Sneaking up on him as he peered around a corner, she realized how delightful the Goblin King could be. She took up an armload of snow, determined to rectify the hair situation, and was running up behind him when she slipped on a patch of ice.
She grabbed around for something to break her fall, and happened to latch onto Jareth's arm. Slamming onto the cold, snowy ground, Sarah pulled Jareth down on top of her. Literally.
Jareth had known she was coming up behind him, and had planned on letting her attack him. What he hadn't planned on, however, was being yanked down to the soft, wet ground, and pinning Sarah down under him in the process.
His face was centimeters from hers, she could feel his hot breath on her cheeks. She locked eyes with Jareth and he refused to let her look away. She could feel the heat from his body along every inch of hers, and having the wind knocked out of her when she hit the ground had left her breathless.
His wet, gloved hand rose to brush a strand of hair out of her face, and ended up stroking her cheek. She melted under his touch.
"You're soaked." He whispered. "You'll catch cold if we don't go back to the castle." He started to get up. All rational thought left Sarah, all she knew was that she was afraid to let him leave and afraid to make him stay.
"Wait." She said so softly, she wasn't sure Jareth heard. She reached up and took him by the shirt collar, and pulling him back towards her, she kissed him.
If Sarah's eyes had been open, she would have laughed at the shocked expression on Jareth's face as she laid her lips on his. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't that. He quickly recovered though, and returned the kiss, and deepened it. Electricity pulsated between them, Sarah could hardly breath. Her body was on fire from the passion of it, and all her fear left her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, in his hair. All too suddenly he pulled away.
"Time to go inside Sarah." He murmured. She allowed Jareth to help her up, and leaned against him as they walked back to the castle. He put his arm around her protectively. Finally, he thought Finally he knew. He knew she loved him. He wanted to sing, to dance, to act very un-Goblin King-ish. He settled, however, for escorting her back to the castle, and having dinner with her.