sorry about the wait between chapter two and chapter three! i took a little road trip and didn't get back until early this morning. but here it is---i'm posting it before i do anything else! hmm, let's see . . .there is a little Shakespeare in this part, a tiny smidgen of the 'R' rating (well, more PG 13, but it will be 'R' by the end. that i can promise you), and we meet the aforementioned Jeremy! am I giving too much away? anyway, i hope you like! if you do, and even if you don't---well, i'm sure you know the drill by now ^_^ enjoy.
Title: Twice Upon A Time
Author: Loki
Rating: R, mostly for language.
Disclaimer: all standard ones apply.
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Chapter Three: And Speak I will
Sarah woke from strange dreams. Even as the annoying scream of her alarm clock tore through her skull the half-remembered images formed, taunted her. It would have been easy to blame last night on dreams. To say that she had spent it not in the Underground, but in her dreams of the Underground. But that would be lying and lying didn't change the fact. Besides, her gown was still ripped and she could definitely feel the weight of her 'crown' about her throat. She sighed, decided to get on with her day as she would any before it. There was school and babysitting, and a determined Goblin King to prepare for.
It was . . .disconcerting to fall asleep in one place and wake in another. She would have to talk to him, she would rather be aware of the transition the next time he sent her back home. Oh, she silently moaned as she made for the bathroom, I don't think I like this new game of his. Seeing the medallion with her own flesh as its frame did not help. O well, when you don't like what you see in the mirror---move on.
By the time the rest of the house was beginning to stir she was already prepared, sitting on her bed with the cool silver sun cradled in her warm palms. It was smooth, wildly soft, but always cold when away from her flesh. She ran a finger along the relief of one ray thoughtlessly. The sun had a face, a subtly feminine face with just as subtle smile. It seemed a shame.
Sarah slipped off her bed, laid the medallion flat on her floor and stared down at it a moment as it stared back. She didn't smile, of all she had tried, she was certain this too would not work. "Has to be done." She spoke with a grave finality, knowing full well that absolutely nothing had to be done. Then she raised her shoe, bringing it done nervously on the sun. Nothing happened. She glanced about and gained courage from the stillness of the morning around her, stomped on the medallion with all the force she could muster. Part of her was enjoying it immensely. This bothersome part urged her to do more, to break more, but she swallowed it back. She hoped Jareth wasn't seeing this. She felt silly, and even a little guilt . . .With a low growl she kicked the sun under her bed. Why should I feel guilty? I didn't ask for this!
Done. With a sigh she went to her vanity, swept her long dark hair up into a haphazard bun. Then froze as something glinted. Her fingers slid in an almost numb calmness against the warming silver, and with the same precise calmness she raised it over her head and placed it on the vanity. The mirror reflected everything. Inside she was sinking; there wasn't even a scratch. Not even a smudge of dirt. She wasn't surprised. She just wasn't anything at all at that point.
"Sarah?" That was Karen, knocking impatiently at her door as she did every morning. "You're going to be late if you don't hurry!" The same words, but Sarah glanced at her clock and realized that this time her prediction had a chance at survival. Sarah absently snatched up her books and was flying out the door thoughtlessly, not even pausing to see the knowing look in her stepmother's gaze. As if! I wish she really did know---I'd like to see what she had to say then! She was lying, she hoped Karen never found out about Jareth and the Labyrinth. The very idea sent an odd shock of hostility through her. And a tinge of an emotion that was a little more green in colour. She cut the path off before her thoughts could follow it.
It was three blocks to the school. If she hurried she could be on time, maybe have a few minutes to spare. She clutched her books tighter to her breast and sprinted down the sidewalk. She was forgetting something, she felt like she was forgetting something. Funny how life goes on---even when you feel like all you can do is stand still and watch everything pass . . .
She yelped suddenly, as she collided with something she had only caught a glimpse of prior. Her books tumbled, but strong hands grasped her arms and kept her from a similar fate. She was very thankful for a moment, but it didn't last long.
"Jareth," she hissed as he smiled down at her. And then she blinked, amazed at how bold he could be. Well, not really amazed. "Don't you think people will notice?" She stepped back and his fingers trailed over her arms, down, down until the leather of his gloves slid over her hands. She pulled her hands free. He was undaunted as ever.
"Notice?" the rise of his eyebrow was completely flirtatious. Being her enemy was one thing; she was comfortable with that role. This she didn't know how to deal with. When in doubt, chew your lip and glare mutedly.
"I like what you've done with your hair, Sarah," he spoke close to absently, as if he were focusing his attention solely on those escaped strands. "It is quite fetching. Wild even."
She ignored him, there wasn't much else she could do. "I mean," she finally snapped, waving at his attire---which characteristically consisted of a combination of claret leather and lace the colour of aged paper, "People are going to look." It ended so lamely that it almost hurt her own ears just to hear it.
"Let them," he said, and something about him was very distant, very harsh and cold. Then he glanced to the books scattered at his feet. "Don't you have some place to be." Not a question---more of a comment. How does he pitch his voice like that?
She nodded silently, but it took her another moment before his words made sense. She forced down a flustered sigh and bent to retrieve her books . . .books that weren't there. Her eyes were wide and dull upon the empty concrete. And then she noticed his boot tapping impatiently. Her books were neatly tucked within his arms and an amused smile crooked his thin lips. She stood slowly, suspiciously.
"This takes a little proximity," he said, then wrapped an arm around her waist and reeled her in. Her reaction was just a little too late. She shoved against his breast, felt the lace moving soft against her palms. Her force had no affect on him, but she stumbled back a few steps into a wall.
"Damn you," she squeaked, her eyes swinging about. It slowly registered. She was standing at one of those comfy little school side entrances that nobody uses, and was really beginning to hate his habit of changing the scenery whenever she blinked.
"Come now, is that anyway to repay kindness?"
"Kindness," she muttered, shoving past him. She spun around just as quickly, jabbed an accusing finger in his direction. "You just like to throw me off guard. It makes you feel," her nose wrinkled in distaste, "big."
His head tilted slightly and wind trickled through the odd lengths of his hair, he smiled. "Your point?"
Some people, she silently raged, you just can't insult. With that she went back to her irritated stalk, her arms swinging at her side. If she remembered correctly and the noise was any indication, the front entrance was close. She was halfway to it when Ashley spotted her. First there was a loud cry of greeting, then a bobbing head of auburn hair as the impish girl practically skipped towards her. Sarah stopped dead just about the same time that Ashley did. Her eyes had swung to the right of her, to the tall, pale boy with long black hair. He smiled shyly and Sarah felt herself smiling back.
"Your books," came a slightly mocking voice. Sarah nearly jumped out of her skin. She could not believe he was brazen enough to follow her to the front entrance, in front of so many people. Sarah knew exactly when Ashley's attention lighted on Jareth. The blue of her eyes swam a little. She was afraid. Some part of her recognized that what she was seeing wasn't human, wasn't even of this world. But another, calmer part was fervently denying it. Of course, the more rational voice won. There was a polite twist to her mouth, completely forced, and then she said 'hi'. She seemed to be waiting for an introduction.
Jareth, this is Ashley and Jeremy, my best friend and the boy I think I might be in love with. Ashley, Jeremy, this is Jareth. King of the Goblins. Yes, Virginia, there is a Goblin King.
Her eyes were innocent as spring skies, but those skies snapped into wild fury when she looked at the man who was just tall enough to be looming over her. "Thank you, Jareth" she hissed coolly. She very definitely took her books back.
"Jareth? That's an odd name."
Sarah's eyes widened at the veiled hostility in Jeremy's voice. She turned to him, it finally hitting. Their surprise attack at the front entrance, Ashley's bubbling excitement, the smile. Jeremy had smiled at her many times before, but that last one had been different. It meant something. Ashley hadn't only extracted information from Jeremy---she had given him some in return.
"Isn't it," Jareth replied with that characteristic nonchalance to his voice. Sarah bit her tongue enough to feel pain shoot through her nerves, waited for the words she knew he was holding back. Time spiraled into a silent moment. The first bell rang. Sarah was never so glad to start school; she felt a rising grin and could do nothing to hold back its wave.
"Time to go!" she chirped. She tried to push herself past Ashley and Jeremy, but Jareth caught her arm and pulled her back. For a moment she had been so caught up in the thought of escape that she forgot exactly what she was escaping from. And Jareth wasn't easy to forget. He pressed his mouth to hers chastely.
"I will see you later," he whispered low against her ear, and then all his electricity was gone. She watched him stalk away, and for a second out of reality she couldn't understand what was going on. Then it all came rushing back and just as suddenly she remembered her audience. She turned with a tired look to the confusion in Ashley's blue eyes and the obvious distress in Jeremy's.
"Who was that? I've never seen anything like him . . ."
Sarah was saved from all lies when the second bell rang out loud and clear. "Shit!" she cried, "I'm late!" She flew into a run, determined to put as much space between her and their questions. What am I going to tell them!?
She should have known it wouldn't take them long. Lunch took her to the library---they knew that. She knew that they knew that. She looked up from her book into Ashley's slightly rounded face. She was worried, interested, a little upset. That was okay, Sarah was all those things too.
"Who was that guy?" Ashley sat down across from her. The librarian watched them curiously a moment then went back to whatever she was typing out on the computer. Sarah was a regular, and because of that . . .so was Ashley.
Sarah smiled. First and second period had given her ample time to come up with a believable story. At least, she hoped it was believable. "Jareth. He's just some guy I know." When lying always start out small and vague, build from there, let them come up with some of it on there own.
"Know how?"
"Do you remember when I auditioned for The Taming of the Shrew?"
Ashley grinned as some memory danced across her eyes, then frowned. "You met him at the auditions?"
Sarah nodded with a small smile. I'm smiling---while I lie to you-ooo. She felt like her lips were twitching, but knew better. Guilt was a bitch sometimes.
"Is there," Ashley paused, her blue eyes careful, "Something between you?"
"He likes to think so."
"What about Jeremy?"
"What about him?" All the forced pleasantness folded from Sarah's face. Ashley had betrayed her trust. Of course, if it weren't for the situation she was now caught in she probably wouldn't have minded. She and Jeremy would have converged at the front entrance and there would have been a mutual agreement to meet somewhere for something. Too late for that now. Sarah glanced down at the book she was holding and when she looked back up her eyes were quietly warm again. She had to reign in her anger.
"He likes you, Sarah. I told him you weren't seeing anybody else."
"I'm not seeing Jareth!" At least, not really. Ye gods, am I? No. No, I'm not. We're just playing a little game. Yeah, with me as the prize. Sarah felt a sudden urge to cover her face with her hands and hide.
"So, what was that today, when he kissed you?"
Sarah blinked. "It was nothing. He wants there to be something, but he has to learn that he can't have everything he wants."
Ashley stared at her searchingly; Sarah didn't understand why she was so concerned. Then the memory of how intimidating Jareth could be fluttered behind her eyes. Forget it, she understood why. Ashley glanced toward the librarian then leaned forward over the table.
"Is he stalking you?"
Sarah started to laugh.
"I'm serious," Ashley hissed. "People like that are dangerous! And most of the time they only get worst . . ."
"Ashley! Stop it, Jareth isn't stalking me!" No, I promised him a week. He's . . .courting me. It was still too odd to think about. Jareth, courting her. Jareth, kissing her. Sarah shuddered suddenly, as if a slight wind had passed over the bare nape of her neck. Now stop that!
"Sarah," Ashley chided, you always know the people who know you best when they achieve that octave. "There's something you're not telling me." The look that followed told Sarah that she should be ashamed of herself. But oddly, she just didn't feel like it, maybe later. No, she remained silent and gave Ashley a somewhat meaningless smile.
And then Sarah took a deep breath. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Why she was so irritated by her best friend's concern. Wait a minute, yes I do. "Why did you tell Jeremy that I liked him?"
Ashley stared at her in disbelief for a moment, then gathered together all her powers of indignation. "I didn't!"
"Ashley." That was all that needed to be said for the guilt to fill those oh so blue eyes. The girl never could lie. Pity, Sarah thought, it's terribly easy. She choked on her own guilt like a bad taste in her mouth.
"Really, I didn't tell him! I just said that you wouldn't be averse to . . . um, the idea." The redhead's voice was practically squeaking, but then her small, round chin raised. She was stubborn. As Sarah's friend, she had to be. "What does that matter anyway? You like him. He likes you. I did you both a favour."
"Did you ever stop to think that I might want to take things at my own pace?"
Ashley blinked. Then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "This wasn't a problem until that weird guy showed up."
Ding-ding-ding. Tell the lady what she's won! Sarah stood up and started in the direction of the many rows of bookshelves that cluttered the farthest end. Ashley followed thoughtlessly. Sarah had the book she wanted lose in her hands. She was hoping the migration would somehow change the nature of their conversation. But she had chosen her friends well, Ashley wasn't going to let the subject drop until she thought she had the whole sordid tale.
"So you met Jareth at the auditions. Then what?" If you could fill a word with righteous contempt . . .Ashley said Jareth's name as if she were being forced to speak of something utterly indelicate. She wouldn't have said it that way in front of him, for some reason that amused Sarah to no small extent.
"Then we made mad, passionate monkey-love. God, Ashley! What do you think happened?" Sarah passed her hand absently over a row of books in muted, bland covers. Ashley stood at the other end and thumbed through some thick volume blindly. It was rhetoric, but that didn't seem to matter.
"I think he hurt you," she glanced at Sarah, then back down. "I think that he did something unforgivable. It was written all over your face this morning."
"Oh really." Sarah tried to read some of the titles on the binds, but they may as well have been in Swahili. Letters and words swam together.
Ashley didn't seem satisfied with her response, or lack thereof. She shoved her book back into place and pulled out another. "Jeremy feels threatened, and if you could have seen the cold fury in Jareth's eyes you would understand why."
The problem was that Sarah already understood. She hadn't needed to see Jareth's eyes to know what was passing through them. And Jeremy had put up a brave front, but she knew he was no match. She was determined that Jareth wasn't going to win this 'game', but she didn't know how she was going to carry on with Jeremy and not put him in danger. She yelped as one of the books she touched thrust outward against her hand. It was so sudden that she felt as if her heart was going to burst. Ashley was at her side almost immediately.
"Sarah, what's wrong?!"
Sarah shook her head numbly, waving her away as soon as her breathing slowed. "Nothing. I almost dropped my book, that's all." Of course, Ashley didn't believe her, but what could she really say? Sarah tentatively pulled the book out, running nervous fingers down the rough texture of its cover. It was blue, but only barely. A faint, faded blue. A book that looked almost too old for such a young school. She glanced around, ignoring the questioning glint to Ashley's eyes, but saw nothing beyond the norm. Nothing but that which was cool between her palms, a tingling current that seemed to travel from cover to cover. He had been here. It was his touch coursing through it, of that she had no doubt. And like the 'game' directed, she flipped the book open.
Nothing so grand happened. There were no explosions; she wasn't sucked into the book in a dance of flashing colours. She steeled herself for the worst and stared down at a rather odd looking piece of paper. The kind you could only find at certain specialty shops: real parchment. She read over the black ink silently.
Say that she rail, why then I'll tell her plain
She sings as sweetly as a nightingale.
Say that she frown, I'll say she looks as clear
As morning roses newly washed with dew.
Say she be mute and will not speak a word,
Then I'll commend her volubility,
And say she uttereth piercing eloquence.
If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks
As though she bid me stay by her a week.
If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day
When I shall ask the banns, and when be married.
Sarah recognized the passage instantly, eyes falling over it again and again. Her part in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew had been no lie. This was Petruccio speaking of how he would go about taming Katherine the curst. Sarah had been ecstatic in her lead role, even if she could have done with a better ending. So Jareth had been privy to her little lie, she was not surprised or amused. And nobody was taming her. She racked her brain for all the words she had learned and spoken as Katherine, then found the perfect answer. Oh, yes. She smiled shortly.
"Why, sir, I trust I may have leave to speak, and speak I will. I am no child, no babe. Your betters have endured me say my mind, and if you cannot, best you stop your ears. My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break, and rather than it shall," she took a much needed breath and went on, "I will be free even to the uttermost as I please in words."
Ashley was staring at her, more than questions in her blue eyes. Sarah slammed the cover on the offending 'letter' and smiled up at the redhead. "Just some lines I have to learn for Drama."
Jareth was a lucky King. He had the grace not to appear as she exited the school. That, however, did not mean she was in the clear. Neither was he. She kept her glare intent on the sidewalk and the streets around her, was prepared to fight if glitter so much as caught her eye. She had a very strong desire to drop something heavy on him and watch him squirm. Then he would know how she felt, with all the good it would do. Sigh. If this was his idea of seduction she felt very safe. All she had to do was sit back and let him remind her again, and yet again, why she did not want him. Prior internal confessions aside, she did NOT want him! Stupid body.
I've been thinking about him too much. What would he say? Thank god that I'll never have to find out! Think about Jeremy, Sarah! Jeremy with warm, sweet eyes. Eyes like rich Sangria. Not cold like mocking oceans. With a smile that is gentle and doesn't make you feel as if the earth is moving beneathe your feet. Who can't speak a harsh word, can't cast a hateful gaze. Jeremy. Jeremy. Oh, Jeremy.
She felt the sting of tears that wanted to live, she fought so hard to kill them all. She would not cry. Damn you, Jareth! Why do you have to ruin everything! I want to be with Jeremy! I want to write his name on my notebook and go on road trips with him during spring break! I want to get disgusted glances from other kids in the hall when he pulls me into a corner and kisses me! I want---I want these things! She felt the wind pulling at escaped strands of her hair, but it was too distant to be real. She did want those things, she had wanted those things . . .She wanted him so much.
"No." She snapped down so hard on that thought that she could nearly feel it in her teeth. I won't give in. To him. To me. To anybody.