A/N: No, this is NOT
a sequel to For You. Sorry, you're
going to have to wait a while more for that.
This is S/J, because I could never write anything else. This is also, erm, strange. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I own
nothing Labyrinth related. Today's
chapter title comes from "Absolutely" by Nine Days.
Never and Forever
Chapter One
This Is the Story of
a Girl
It never occured to him that she'd
be so foolish as to jump.
Everything
had been going perfectly. Well, not
quite perfectly. There was that
dreadful escapade in the ballroom, but things as they were – it was to be
expected.
Originally he thought she wouldn't
make it very far. She had proved him
wrong so fiercly it suprised him – he'd never expected some teenage girl that
still played dress up to be a worthy opponent.
And worthy she was. Always with
some sly repartee to counter his biting remarks. And even with his slip-up during the masque, he should have
won. The timing, the emotion, the
setting... Not so much the emotion, he decided, but the setting, the setting
was perfect.
He'd always
been rather proud of the Escher Room.
He hated to think that now it was disgraced – that song had been
ridiculous, even if the girl had been too preocupied to listen.
Too bent on
winning to think about the consequences of jumping off a fifty-foot high
ledge. Her every thought was
concentrated on the babe. He'd tried to
distract her, but was only partially successful. All her little friends and their little problems had given him a
shread of time. It should have been
enough time.
There was
nothing to be done about it now. She
really was just a fool-hearty little girl.
She may have thought she could defy him, but what in hell could have
possessed her to jump?
~
"Well, should you need us..." Said Sir Didymus softly.
"I'll call." Sarah replied, her voice full of a
confidence she did not possess. All too
aware that time was running out, Sarah rushed up the stone stairs,
concentrating on one thing: Toby. She would not allow that foul Goblin King to
harm a hair on his head. She would not
loose the little brother she had forgotten she loved. She would not be the one who gave away her father's only
happiness since her mother had left.
She was not at all prepared for the
room at the top of the stairs. For the
room at the top of the stairs seemed nothing but stairs, like something
out of a dream. Or rather, something
out of an Escher work. And then she saw
Toby.
Running. Up stairs, down stairs, slamming her fists against the wall as
she always seemed to get farther and farther away from her baby brother. That vile fae kept getting in her way,
trying to waste her precious last minutes before time ran out. How could he be singing at a time like
this? Weren't evil villians supposed to
be cackling in the background at the last minute? Or launching spells, or sword-fighting, or doing something other
than staring at her through clouded eyes and tossing his damned crystals
around? Why couldn't she have recited
an ordinary bedtime story that night?
Wait. There he was, on the ledge below her. The ledge a good five stories below her. What should she do? By the time she found a staircase down to
him, he would have crawled away, far too curious for his own good. Well, she'd already defied gravity a few
other times that day, and besides, things were not always as they seemed...
~
He had been preparing for their final
confrontation. He knew just how it
would go. She would forget those
crucial words – and he would win. But
did he even want to win anymore?
Before he could dismiss that
ridiculous idea, he looked up at her.
She who was creating all this madness before him. He didn't need this, not now. And as much as he tried, he couldn't slow
the thundering of his heart. The
strangest thing was he could no longer tell if he was seething merely from
hate, or from something different.
Something very new to him altogether.
He saw her take that deep breath,
and scrunch up her nose as if stealing herself up to do something she did not
have quite the nerve to do. And as she
bent her knees, he glanced at the babe, sitting precariously a good fifty feet
below her. A sharp intake of breath
escaped his throat, it was the only sound he had the time to make before she
leapt. Perhaps if he had been watching
her more closely, he would have known.
Perhaps he could have warned her, saved her even.
He stood frozen, too far away to
make any physical move to protect her, and too stuned at her stupidity to will
his magic to do what he could not. She
struck the rough stone floor on her hands and knees first, which only
momentarily delayed her from striking her head against the solid ground as she
collapsed. The babe turned and stared
at her, wide-eyed. She lay sprawled
against the masonry mere inches from him.
Was she mad? Did she honestly
think she would end up floating down to save her brother?
~
"Give me the child..."
"I have been generous, up until
now. But I can be cruel."
"Through dangers untold..."
"You cowered before me, I was
frightening..."
"And hardships unnumbered..."
"I have turned the world upside
down, and I have done it all for you..."
"I have fought my way here to the
castle beyond the goblin city..."
"I'm exhausted from living up to
your expectations of me..."
"For my will is as strong as
yours..."
"Look what I'm offering you..."
"And my kingdom as great..."
"I ask for so little..."
"Damn..."
"Just fear me, love me, do as I
say, and I will be your slave..."
"You have no power over me."
~
The blood pooled under her thick
dark hair, spilling out toward the babe, who had begun to cry for the first
time since he had come to the Underground.
He instantly appeared by her side, lifting her crumpled form, unsure as
to what exactly he was going to do with her.
Through her brother's cries, he could faintly hear a clock chiming
thirteen times.
"And to think she might have won if
she hadn't been so rash." He said
softly under his breath. "Such a pity."
~
"And remember, Fair Maiden, should you need us...
" Sir Didymus said sadly from inside
the depths of her mirror.
"Yes, should you need us, for any
reason at all..." Continued Hoggle,
smiling his rather gruff smile in a hopeful sort of way.
"I need you Hoggle." Said Sarah softly.
"You do?" Hoggle asked, his voice cracking in disbelief.
"I don't know why, but every now
and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you, all of you."
"You do?" Repeated Hoggle. "Well
then, why didn't ya say so?" Sarah
whirled around to find her room full of everyone and everything she had met
during her short excursion through the Labyrinth. Even those that she had considered enemies but a short time ago –
goblins, firerys, and others guilty of deception.
The funny thing was, she didn't
care. She was so happy, happy that now
she could have the best of both worlds.
She had saved Toby, the little angel who now slept peacefully in the
next room, and was able to keep her friends.
She ran around hugging all of them, laughing so hard she thought she
might crack a rib. It was perfect,
except –
Except the Goblin King
himself. She had thought of him too, as
an enemy. So why was he not here as
well, with all the other creatures she had fought against? He was different, she supposed to herself,
while digging her Scrabble board out from under her bed. He was human, or mostly, anyways. He was prideful, and bitter, and probably
hated the fact that he had lost. He
probably hated her.
Sarah was surprised at the pang of
grief she felt at that thought. He had
really taught her something, though. If
it weren't for him, Sarah thought while she was caravanting with the rest of
the partiers, she wouldn't have recognized how important Toby was to her. She briefly felt the desire to thank him,
but quickly pushed it away as she remembered what tactics he had used merely
minutes before. The peach, the
ballroom, the bog. Well, the bog was
really rather silly, but the ballroom was all too real. He had toyed with her emotions. She would not forgive him for that, even if
he was there.
~
Having finally decided that there was no other
option but to leave the unconscious mortal girl on his bed until he could think
of a better plan of action, the Goblin King drew the covers up around her,
after waving his hand at the wound on her head, so she wouldn't bleed on his
blankets. She had struggled against him
for a bit as he carried her up to his chambers, as though she was having a very
fitful nightmare. She muttered several
uninteligable things, and though he had not a clue as to what she was saying,
he could tell she was saying it quite passionatly.
As he turned to leave the room he
noticed a comfortable smile curl onto her face, as though her nightmare had
come to an end. Well at least she was
happy. Not that she would be when she
awakened, Jareth thought. And what was
he to do with the babe? Under normal
circumstances, he would become the newest member of the goblin society, but
things seemed different, somehow. He
had never had a wisher nearly kill themselves before. It had turned out to be quite an unusual day.
~
Sarah curled into bed that night, only faintly
noticing that her head was throbbing.
Her friends were gone, the party had ended, and though her room was in a
state of disaster, it would have to wait until tomorrow, regardless of what
kind of fits Karen would have.
And so Sarah slept, both in her
dream world and the real one – if the Underground can be considered the real
world – not knowing that she had truly lost, that things were not as they
seemed.
A/N 2: Okay, so
here's where I get all apprehensive and think to myself "oh this is bad, I
shouldn't have posted this, what are people going to think???" So be nice and calm my fears (or encourage
them, depending on you opinion) and review.
