Author's Notes:
Disclaimer: Labyrinth and it's character's are not mine, they belong to Jim
Henson and Co. "I Dreamed a Dream" is not mine, alas, it is from the musical
Les Miserables with the lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. (Based on the novel by
Victor Hugo, of course.) The lyrics have not been changed other than the
reprisal of a few lines. I own only one character in this tale, and he is the
man without a name (and not much of a personality...)
"Chimera"
By ~Faeline~
************************
~~There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft and their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting~~
~~There was a time and then it all went wrong...~~
Sarah was young when she met him; barely into college. A shimmering youth,
newly opened to adulthood, ready to take on the world and its refuse in order
to find her dreams.
She saw him for the first time seated in the auditorium, beneath the shadows
of the bright lights that lit the stage, settled into the first row near the
aisle. He had come to the college production for a break in the monotony of
reality. As the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream took their bows to an
entire audience on foot, she noted his attentions had one focal point, and it
was her.
He was still there long after the crowd had flooded the aisles and swept
through the foyer, heading to their respective cars, and buses and dorm
rooms. He made his way backstage seeking the elusive Faery Queen, that he
might pay homage to her.
She blushed at his praise and smiled when he asked her to accompany him on a
walk. She liked the dignified way in which he held himself. She admired the
soft blackness of his hair and the way it curled slightly around the collar
of his dress shirt. His eyes were electric, magnetic, green as Poseidon's
kingdom. They called to her mind images of eyes just as entrancing, though
not so magnificent in their coloring; one blue and one a stormy sea; soulful,
hurting and feral as any wild cat.
They spent the evening together; walking under the emaciated limbs of
trembling trees, through piles of Technicolor foliage. They warmed their
hands over steaming espressos and talked passionately about future plans and
current ventures over a shared dessert in a small cafe.
Night dwindled. Fog rose in eddies from the dew on the grass, and the black
glassy lakes spotted with sleeping fowl, in anticipation of the coming dawn.
The night birds ceased their song and took to their day time resting places,
while the animals of the sun and warmth slowly journeyed back from the
hypnotic abyss of sleep.
They retired to his small flat and spent the remaining hours of darkness
among cool sheets, warm tangled limbs and silken whispers. They drifted into
their own dream state as dawn slithered over the horizon and broke the
shadows, sending them rushing to the safety of their daytime retreats.
The remaining months of the year they spent content in each others company;
growing and evolving in their relationship. When he said that he loved her,
and asked the question, her response was immediate and positive. They played
the role of the ultimately devoted couple.
They were wed in the late days of spring. When the rains had slackened and
the flowers and grasses grew in abundance; perfuming the air with their
multicolored scents. On a day of sweet breezes and light they pledged to
love one another forever.
Someone had once told her that forever was not so long...
* * *
She left school soon after, following her new husband to the places his work
would lead him. Her love for the stage didn't fade when she was pulled from
the limelight, and she found workshops and classes in their new home.
They played the role of the devoted couple.
All went right as the spring rains that first year. On the anniversary of
their first meeting he took her to the Theatre in the heart of the city to
enjoy a professional rendition of Shakespeare's Midsummer play. On the
anniversary of their wedding they dined well and walked beneath the budding
branches of May. They pulled off the road on their way home, finding a thick
shadowed grove brimming with the essence of cherry blossoms, and made love on
the warm upholstery of the back seat.
Change compliments the seasons. It comes inevitably when one is not aware.
Their relationship grew so suddenly strange and apart, like ash and oak
trees, twined together at the roots, growing toward opposite points of the
globe as they reach for the sky. She lost sight of what she once was, what
she once longed to be; overshadowed by what he wanted and needed her to be.
His eyes lost their electric sheen, becoming dull as an old broken window
glass. The magnetism that had attracted her from their first meeting was
gone.
Her dreams were fettered and dusty and she could swear to hearing the sound
of *his* voice whispering with so much sadness.
"Such a pity..."
~~I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung
No wine untasted.
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
And they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame...
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came~~
She longed to return to the sun-filled days of their beginnings. Longed for
the impulsiveness, the companionable silences. She devoted her time to
rekindling the flames.
On their second wedding anniversary each had a surprise for the other.
He was leaving, he said. She could keep the house. He was going to the
city; to the woman in the office who'd stolen his heart from him. The
candlelight on the celebratory table setting reflected the deep blue of her
eyes, the glassy sheen of tears. He left the room to see to his impending
trip, and she pressed her hand to the still flat expanse of her stomach and
wept.
She watched him get into his car the next morning. He didn't look back,
didn't hesitate as the black vehicle sped over the curves and disappeared
into the verdant blanket of trees. She stayed staring for some time until
she thought she caught sight of the hypnotic eyes from her past in the glass.
She saw her name fall from his lips, but when she turned no one was there.
~~I had a dream that life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed...~~
She walked alone through the hazy cool days of autumn. The leaves had lost
their brightness, the cold had sharpened its bite. Her belly swelled with
life, made stronger by every beat of her heart.
She lived in mediocrity.
She supported herself in the world using her talents for organization and
love of Theatre and literature to keep the large library she worked in
running smoothly. She still went to her workshops and classes, lobbied for
parts that no one else would take, and with a heavy heart watched the empty
years spread out before her.
* * *
He came to her in the darkness, in her sleep, her night dreams. She told the
illusion that she'd wanted the fairy tale; but been left with the smashed
remains of the pumpkin. He looked at her sadly and shaking his head
disappeared from her mind.
"I could have shown you your dreams..."
The fall rains started.
She dreamed of him often, but never spoke his name. Each dream was
different. In some he appeared almost solid, real enough to touch, though he
never reached for her. In others he was but a mirror image, ectoplasmic and
see-through. Then there were the dreams in which he didn't show himself, and
all she heard were the velvety contours of his voice.
Life was different with her nightly visitor. She no longer had the daydreams
of her childhood, but she had her fantasies in the dark.
She dreaded the day he might vanish from her life, as well.
* * *
On the night of the anniversary of her first meeting with her husband, the
sky split open and let the rain fall without restraint. The thunder was
vicious and the storm took out the power to the house. By the jagged
crevices of lightning she lit candles around the rooms.
She slipped into the gown he bought her when they were first married,
relishing the soft feel of the satin against her skin, growing taught but not
uncomfortably so on her abdomen. She huddled beneath the covers of her bed
and watched as the rain pelted the glass and the wind rattled the windows
until the song of the storm lulled her to sleep.
She started slightly as a thunderhead crackled and the room was lit in the
ghostly luminescence of the gale. She felt she was not alone. She surveyed
the room and found a cluster of twilight that the stormlight did not
penetrate. There were eyes in that darkness and they watched her as the
shadows moved toward the bed.
She took a breath as the figure reached her, unsure of what to do, when a
shadow passed briefly over her eyes and mouth, calming her with a sense of
warmth and familiarity.
His face was hidden in black-blue hues, but she could feel the heat of a
smile trembling along her highly sensitized flesh. She gasped when his hand
detached itself from the shade and he caressed the bare skin of her arm. She
didn't try to stop him when he pulled on the delicate tissue of the gown,
ripping it open in the middle and brushing it away from her body.
He trailed his fingers over the soft plump curves of her breasts, brushing
the sensitive dusky nipples with his fingertips, sending ripples of white
heat flowing through her chest and abdomen to pool around the muscles low in
her belly. He let his palms flow over the swell of her stomach with a
reverence she never knew he held.
"You've denied me all these years, Sarah." he whispered. His voice was
sweetly soft, thick and warm like molten chocolate. "But whose voice did you
hear in your dreams? Hmm? Whose face did you gaze into as you made love in
the shadows?"
He smiled, and she shifted uneasily on the warmed sheets as he moved to kneel
over her thighs and gaze directly into her face, bright with moonlight.
"Tell me... Whose hands did you imagine on your body? Whose touch did you
tremble beneath?"
He slid long cool fingers down her flank, over the smooth junction her thigh
and hip, to the downy recess between her legs. He cupped his hand against
her sex, sensing the hot blood pulsating beneath the tender flesh as she
arched, raised her hips and pressed against his palm.
"Whose lips....did you wish to taste?"
He leaned forward to brush his lips across hers in a chaste kiss, in utter
defiance to the hand the held her and the fingertips that caressed her soft
folds and slid inside to touch her core. His warm breath trailed down her
throat and sternum, seeking the rise and fall of rounded flesh. He locked
his warm mouth around her nipple, suckling with the intensity which the child
in her womb would reprise in several months time.
She squeezed her eyes shut on tears and tangled her fingers in the pale
strands of his hair, holding him to her as she wept for old dead dreams and
new chances, for love that spanned worlds.
He pulled away with all of the restraint he could summon and took her lips
once more, in the most intimate explorations of warm liquid velvet and hard
porcelain. He breathed into her, filling her lungs with his essence, giving
her child a breath of himself.
She lost his kiss as he backed away, into the surrounding blackness, away
from the light of the round moon. He looked down at her, a mixture of hope
and joy, sadness and anticipation coming to rest in his queer eyes.
"Not yet...but so close, my Sarah. So very close..."
"Jareth. Don't..."
"I'll be waiting for you Sarah. All you have to do...is call."
His name fell from her lips as he merged with the shadows of the room,
leaving much in the same way as he came. She held her arms out to pull the
phantom image to her.
~~And still I dream he'll come to me...~~
* * *
She woke with her arms still open for her love's embrace, and his name
falling thick and syrupy from her tongue. Shiny streams of silver graced her
cheeks, bleeding slowly from beneath her dark lashes.
His scent clung to the bed; to the tangled sheets, to the soft pillow, to her
gown...to her body. She pressed her hands to her face and inhaled deeply,
holding her breath to keep him inside her. She let her gaze travel to the
window and allowed herself to breathe again.
The rain had slowed, and the clouds had broken in areas, allowing the
moonlight to shine through; cold as crystal, it fell milky soft against the
clear glass and made her skin appear luminous.
She thought the light was momentarily obscured by wings, and then she heard
the sounds of a bird in flight on the midnight wind.
~~And still I dream he'll come to me...~~
***************
~Fin~
***************
Disclaimer: Labyrinth and it's character's are not mine, they belong to Jim
Henson and Co. "I Dreamed a Dream" is not mine, alas, it is from the musical
Les Miserables with the lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. (Based on the novel by
Victor Hugo, of course.) The lyrics have not been changed other than the
reprisal of a few lines. I own only one character in this tale, and he is the
man without a name (and not much of a personality...)
"Chimera"
By ~Faeline~
************************
~~There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft and their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting~~
~~There was a time and then it all went wrong...~~
Sarah was young when she met him; barely into college. A shimmering youth,
newly opened to adulthood, ready to take on the world and its refuse in order
to find her dreams.
She saw him for the first time seated in the auditorium, beneath the shadows
of the bright lights that lit the stage, settled into the first row near the
aisle. He had come to the college production for a break in the monotony of
reality. As the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream took their bows to an
entire audience on foot, she noted his attentions had one focal point, and it
was her.
He was still there long after the crowd had flooded the aisles and swept
through the foyer, heading to their respective cars, and buses and dorm
rooms. He made his way backstage seeking the elusive Faery Queen, that he
might pay homage to her.
She blushed at his praise and smiled when he asked her to accompany him on a
walk. She liked the dignified way in which he held himself. She admired the
soft blackness of his hair and the way it curled slightly around the collar
of his dress shirt. His eyes were electric, magnetic, green as Poseidon's
kingdom. They called to her mind images of eyes just as entrancing, though
not so magnificent in their coloring; one blue and one a stormy sea; soulful,
hurting and feral as any wild cat.
They spent the evening together; walking under the emaciated limbs of
trembling trees, through piles of Technicolor foliage. They warmed their
hands over steaming espressos and talked passionately about future plans and
current ventures over a shared dessert in a small cafe.
Night dwindled. Fog rose in eddies from the dew on the grass, and the black
glassy lakes spotted with sleeping fowl, in anticipation of the coming dawn.
The night birds ceased their song and took to their day time resting places,
while the animals of the sun and warmth slowly journeyed back from the
hypnotic abyss of sleep.
They retired to his small flat and spent the remaining hours of darkness
among cool sheets, warm tangled limbs and silken whispers. They drifted into
their own dream state as dawn slithered over the horizon and broke the
shadows, sending them rushing to the safety of their daytime retreats.
The remaining months of the year they spent content in each others company;
growing and evolving in their relationship. When he said that he loved her,
and asked the question, her response was immediate and positive. They played
the role of the ultimately devoted couple.
They were wed in the late days of spring. When the rains had slackened and
the flowers and grasses grew in abundance; perfuming the air with their
multicolored scents. On a day of sweet breezes and light they pledged to
love one another forever.
Someone had once told her that forever was not so long...
* * *
She left school soon after, following her new husband to the places his work
would lead him. Her love for the stage didn't fade when she was pulled from
the limelight, and she found workshops and classes in their new home.
They played the role of the devoted couple.
All went right as the spring rains that first year. On the anniversary of
their first meeting he took her to the Theatre in the heart of the city to
enjoy a professional rendition of Shakespeare's Midsummer play. On the
anniversary of their wedding they dined well and walked beneath the budding
branches of May. They pulled off the road on their way home, finding a thick
shadowed grove brimming with the essence of cherry blossoms, and made love on
the warm upholstery of the back seat.
Change compliments the seasons. It comes inevitably when one is not aware.
Their relationship grew so suddenly strange and apart, like ash and oak
trees, twined together at the roots, growing toward opposite points of the
globe as they reach for the sky. She lost sight of what she once was, what
she once longed to be; overshadowed by what he wanted and needed her to be.
His eyes lost their electric sheen, becoming dull as an old broken window
glass. The magnetism that had attracted her from their first meeting was
gone.
Her dreams were fettered and dusty and she could swear to hearing the sound
of *his* voice whispering with so much sadness.
"Such a pity..."
~~I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung
No wine untasted.
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
And they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame...
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came~~
She longed to return to the sun-filled days of their beginnings. Longed for
the impulsiveness, the companionable silences. She devoted her time to
rekindling the flames.
On their second wedding anniversary each had a surprise for the other.
He was leaving, he said. She could keep the house. He was going to the
city; to the woman in the office who'd stolen his heart from him. The
candlelight on the celebratory table setting reflected the deep blue of her
eyes, the glassy sheen of tears. He left the room to see to his impending
trip, and she pressed her hand to the still flat expanse of her stomach and
wept.
She watched him get into his car the next morning. He didn't look back,
didn't hesitate as the black vehicle sped over the curves and disappeared
into the verdant blanket of trees. She stayed staring for some time until
she thought she caught sight of the hypnotic eyes from her past in the glass.
She saw her name fall from his lips, but when she turned no one was there.
~~I had a dream that life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed...~~
She walked alone through the hazy cool days of autumn. The leaves had lost
their brightness, the cold had sharpened its bite. Her belly swelled with
life, made stronger by every beat of her heart.
She lived in mediocrity.
She supported herself in the world using her talents for organization and
love of Theatre and literature to keep the large library she worked in
running smoothly. She still went to her workshops and classes, lobbied for
parts that no one else would take, and with a heavy heart watched the empty
years spread out before her.
* * *
He came to her in the darkness, in her sleep, her night dreams. She told the
illusion that she'd wanted the fairy tale; but been left with the smashed
remains of the pumpkin. He looked at her sadly and shaking his head
disappeared from her mind.
"I could have shown you your dreams..."
The fall rains started.
She dreamed of him often, but never spoke his name. Each dream was
different. In some he appeared almost solid, real enough to touch, though he
never reached for her. In others he was but a mirror image, ectoplasmic and
see-through. Then there were the dreams in which he didn't show himself, and
all she heard were the velvety contours of his voice.
Life was different with her nightly visitor. She no longer had the daydreams
of her childhood, but she had her fantasies in the dark.
She dreaded the day he might vanish from her life, as well.
* * *
On the night of the anniversary of her first meeting with her husband, the
sky split open and let the rain fall without restraint. The thunder was
vicious and the storm took out the power to the house. By the jagged
crevices of lightning she lit candles around the rooms.
She slipped into the gown he bought her when they were first married,
relishing the soft feel of the satin against her skin, growing taught but not
uncomfortably so on her abdomen. She huddled beneath the covers of her bed
and watched as the rain pelted the glass and the wind rattled the windows
until the song of the storm lulled her to sleep.
She started slightly as a thunderhead crackled and the room was lit in the
ghostly luminescence of the gale. She felt she was not alone. She surveyed
the room and found a cluster of twilight that the stormlight did not
penetrate. There were eyes in that darkness and they watched her as the
shadows moved toward the bed.
She took a breath as the figure reached her, unsure of what to do, when a
shadow passed briefly over her eyes and mouth, calming her with a sense of
warmth and familiarity.
His face was hidden in black-blue hues, but she could feel the heat of a
smile trembling along her highly sensitized flesh. She gasped when his hand
detached itself from the shade and he caressed the bare skin of her arm. She
didn't try to stop him when he pulled on the delicate tissue of the gown,
ripping it open in the middle and brushing it away from her body.
He trailed his fingers over the soft plump curves of her breasts, brushing
the sensitive dusky nipples with his fingertips, sending ripples of white
heat flowing through her chest and abdomen to pool around the muscles low in
her belly. He let his palms flow over the swell of her stomach with a
reverence she never knew he held.
"You've denied me all these years, Sarah." he whispered. His voice was
sweetly soft, thick and warm like molten chocolate. "But whose voice did you
hear in your dreams? Hmm? Whose face did you gaze into as you made love in
the shadows?"
He smiled, and she shifted uneasily on the warmed sheets as he moved to kneel
over her thighs and gaze directly into her face, bright with moonlight.
"Tell me... Whose hands did you imagine on your body? Whose touch did you
tremble beneath?"
He slid long cool fingers down her flank, over the smooth junction her thigh
and hip, to the downy recess between her legs. He cupped his hand against
her sex, sensing the hot blood pulsating beneath the tender flesh as she
arched, raised her hips and pressed against his palm.
"Whose lips....did you wish to taste?"
He leaned forward to brush his lips across hers in a chaste kiss, in utter
defiance to the hand the held her and the fingertips that caressed her soft
folds and slid inside to touch her core. His warm breath trailed down her
throat and sternum, seeking the rise and fall of rounded flesh. He locked
his warm mouth around her nipple, suckling with the intensity which the child
in her womb would reprise in several months time.
She squeezed her eyes shut on tears and tangled her fingers in the pale
strands of his hair, holding him to her as she wept for old dead dreams and
new chances, for love that spanned worlds.
He pulled away with all of the restraint he could summon and took her lips
once more, in the most intimate explorations of warm liquid velvet and hard
porcelain. He breathed into her, filling her lungs with his essence, giving
her child a breath of himself.
She lost his kiss as he backed away, into the surrounding blackness, away
from the light of the round moon. He looked down at her, a mixture of hope
and joy, sadness and anticipation coming to rest in his queer eyes.
"Not yet...but so close, my Sarah. So very close..."
"Jareth. Don't..."
"I'll be waiting for you Sarah. All you have to do...is call."
His name fell from her lips as he merged with the shadows of the room,
leaving much in the same way as he came. She held her arms out to pull the
phantom image to her.
~~And still I dream he'll come to me...~~
* * *
She woke with her arms still open for her love's embrace, and his name
falling thick and syrupy from her tongue. Shiny streams of silver graced her
cheeks, bleeding slowly from beneath her dark lashes.
His scent clung to the bed; to the tangled sheets, to the soft pillow, to her
gown...to her body. She pressed her hands to her face and inhaled deeply,
holding her breath to keep him inside her. She let her gaze travel to the
window and allowed herself to breathe again.
The rain had slowed, and the clouds had broken in areas, allowing the
moonlight to shine through; cold as crystal, it fell milky soft against the
clear glass and made her skin appear luminous.
She thought the light was momentarily obscured by wings, and then she heard
the sounds of a bird in flight on the midnight wind.
~~And still I dream he'll come to me...~~
***************
~Fin~
***************
