Chapter 4: Anger and Remorse

After the group had been gone for some time, Jareth walked out of the cave and toward
the edge of the forest. She reached it quickly, and soon came to a steep cliff.

"My life seems so worthless… I have no family… no one to be there for me… Zurath too
young to share my burdens… I want to just close my eyes… and reach inside myself…
reach into my frozen heart… imagine a time… when I will have true friends… somebody
I can care about… anyone… but I can't… because that part of me is empty… I never
knew my mother… my father was so awful I took his life myself…

"I remember a time that I needed no one… so recent… it ended today… how did they
reach me? Awaken old feelings I had forgotten I possessed? How? And why am I so
drawn to them? They have no real family… yet they have each other… is that really
enough?

"That girl… her father is Moo… she has no real family either… and yet… she has her
friends… and they are her family now. I can't hate them. I can't even try… and gods I'm
being pathetic. Like I'm trying to write a poem."

A single tear trickled down Jareth's weather-hardened face. She brushed it away quickly,
perhaps angrily. Yet another tear followed. And another. Soon the tears were pouring like
the rain that had just begun to fall. She stood there for quite some time, until a voice
interrupted her.

"Jareth?" It was Zurath. "What's troubling you?"

"I'm fine," she lied. "Just leave me alone for a while. I'll come back a little later, okay? I
just need to be by myself… and think things through."

"Jareth, you're not fine. I can tell, and I'm not what one would call empathetic. What's
eating you? You haven't been yourself since those humans came."

"They just… remind me of everything I never had… I guess that's why I can't forgive
them… I don't like their… well, arrogance… they'll never find the Phoenix and yet they
think they can… they think they can save the world… and yet it's hopeless… just
hopeless. Moo is too powerful to defeat. I know that well…" she touched the scar that ran
from the inner corner of her left eye to the bottom of her jaw. "Perhaps too well…"

"There's only one thing you can do. You have to set things right… before it's too late."
Zurath looked thoughtful, which was strange for one of his species. "They would sooner
have you as an ally rather than an enemy. Trust me. You offered them the fake Mystery
Disk as a prize, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Give them the real one. You still have it, don't you? It may not have a Phoenix inside,
but they want Mystery Disks. It increases their forces. It protects them. And it will be a
symbol of your trust… and proof that you are not an enemy."

"Is that the only way?"

"I'm not sure. I am unfamiliar with human customs."

"I guess you're right. Shame you're mostly Naga. People will think that you're stupid.
Either that… or they'll say that your intellect was wasted. But I shouldn't change the
subject. I should better find them before it's too late."

"I know where they are. And if they're not there I'll find them elsewhere. By the way,
you always speak in fragments as opposed to whole sentences when you're upset. Get out
of the habit, it'll make it harder for us to tell."

Jareth smiled sadly. "Thanks, kid. I owe you big for that one."

Zurath smiled back. "Actually, it was more of a lucky guess. I've only known you a
couple of days."

Jareth blinked. "Really? That long?"

Zurath laughed slightly and slithered off. "Follow me, okay?"

**********

"Holly!" Genki yelled as he walked through the forest, looking for his friend. "Hey,
Holly!" he glared at the ground. "Where is she?" he muttered. "Where could she have
gone? HOLLY!!"

Holly heard Genki's voice. She knew where he was. He'll find me sooner or later, she
thought, I just hope he gets here before… who was that… Jareth does. She sighed and
opened her eyes. She looked up into the branches of the tree she sat beneath. How did she
know? Holly wondered, brushing a tear from her face, how did she know that Moo was
my father?

"There you are!" Genki exclaimed. "We've been searching the entire forest looking for
you." He walked up to Holly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. We should leave
before Jareth comes to collect her prize." With Genki's help, Holly got to her feet. Then
they walked off to find the rest of their friends.


**********

A twig snapped under Jareth's boot. She muttered something under her breath and
continued to walk. Those kids really got to you, Jareth, she said to herself. You must be
getting soft after all these years away from humanity. Fool. This should teach you to let
your guard down. She continued to walk, this time with a blank mind, thinking about
nothing but following Zurath.