A/N: I realize this is short, but this story needed to get moving, damnit! And I realized that I have neglected thanking my lovely beta-reader, the ridiculously supportive Lauralee. Lots of love and cookies!
Disclaimer: Wow, this gets old fast. "Hi, my name is Chelsey" "Hi, Chelsey!" "And I, *sob* I don't own Labyrinth. I don't! Just get off my back, okay!" Ahem. Anyways, today's chapter title is from Eve 6, "Here's to Tonight"
Never And Forever
Chapter Four
Don't Let Me Let You Go
Sarah ran right up to the riverbank, peering into the depths of the Poseidon River. It looked harmless enough – though Sarah was not so foolish as to believe that – and was a strange midnight blue colour, tinged a deep purple.
I probably shouldn't be saying this, but whatever you do, don't go in the water.
Allow me to give you some sporting advice. Do not go in the river.
"And why the hell not?" Sarah asked aloud, glaring at the waters. Was the warning genuine or a trick? Sarah couldn't tell, but decided there was no harm in looking for the crystal around the banks.
The minutes ticked by endlessly as she walked along the sand, pushing away bushes, rocks and flowers hoping for some little glint of light. Of course, nothing could ever be that simple.
"This is ridiculous!" Sarah declared, throwing herself down on the bank. "How in the world am I supposed to find a crystal in all this? I – there's no way – he must have known..." Sarah trailed off, a sudden rainbow glare on the opposite bank catching her eye. "That must be it!" She cried excitedly. "That has to be the crystal!" Her common sense quickly caught up with her pride, however, and asked her how exactly she planned to get to the crystal.
With no bridge in sight, Sarah decided that there only was one way to get across the river. She would have to do what she had been expressly told not to. "It was just a trick to scare me." Sarah reassured herself, as she slipped off her shoes and pulled up her skirts. "It's just water."
Nevertheless her first steps in were tentative. Barely toeing her way into the water she paused, waiting for piranhas to attack or quicksand to suck her up or something equally disastrous to happen. But no, the pleasantly cool water only washed around her ankles, inviting her in deeper.
Sarah waded in, quickly giving up the pretext of keeping her clothes dry and let her skirts drop in the water. The thin cotton material sucked in water like a sponge, weighing Sarah down as she walked across the bottom, in waist-deep water. The current was slow and lazy, and Sarah was making her way rather easily across, although the water kept getting deeper and deeper. She was in past her shoulders and not even half was across when the river bottom suddenly fell away from her feet.
Sarah gasped and plunged under, reaching out for the bottom yet never touching it. Resurfacing, Sarah spat out the river water that had gotten in her mouth when she went under – it tasted like bitter black ink.
The water had been getting increasingly colder as she swam across, and now that she was near the middle it was like ice. Once I get halfway it'll warm up again. Sarah consoled herself, as she coughed a little. The water had left a slimy feel in her mouth, which she could not dispel. And worse, the current seemed to pick up, and waves washed over her, forcing her to swallow more freezing water.
It turned her insides to ice, then a warm fire blazed through her instead. She began to feel dizzy, and the weight from her dress was slowing her down quite a bit. Panting, Sarah forced her frozen fingers to undo the ties on her dress, and she slipped out of it, left only in a slip-like underdress, grateful for the loss of the weight.
Fiercely Sarah kicked her way to the next bank, collapsing on the sand on all fours as a wave of nausea washed over her. She spluttered up more river water, but it did not ease her sudden light-headedness. Sarah attempted to stand, but fell back to her hands and knees as it made her head spin. Catching a flash of light Sarah remembered the whole point of her little dip in the Poseidon River, and crawled over to the shiny crystal...
Picking it up in her hands, Sarah choked back a sob. The reflective glass was not a crystal after all, but only a shard of a broken bottle. Hurling it far away, Sarah broke into another coughing fit. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and thought that perhaps Jareth's warning had been real after all. Wiping her mouth with her hand, Sarah gasped at what she saw. Crimson blood covered her palm. Oh dear Gods, she was coughing blood.
"Hoggle!" Sarah called out, her voice cracking. "Hoggle, I need you." No answer came, though she did not expect one. He had said he couldn't help her; there was no way for him to know the trouble she was in now. Another wave of pain came, sharp and cutting, and Sarah retched again, splattering the sand scarlet. There was nothing left for it.
"Jareth!" She called in a shaky voice. She could feel him appear behind her, though she could not see him with her back turned.
"A very pretty picture." Jareth commented dryly, seeing only Sarah drenched and sitting on the sand, in her undergarments no less. "They all told you, beware of the waters. Do you always believe your eyes above all else?" In reply Sarah launched into another coughing fit, and Jareth noticed she was shaking. She slowly turned to look at him, her hand covering her mouth as she coughed. When Sarah lowered it, she heard Jareth's sharp intake of breath as he saw the trails of blood down her chin, smeared across her hands.
"Dear Gods." He gasped softly, and covered the distance between them in moments. Instantly he drew her up in his arms, and transported them to the castle.
"Put me down." Sarah demanded, struggling albeit weakly against him. "What the hell is in that water?" Jareth ignored her query, laying her for a second time upon his bed.
"How many times do you expect me to save your life?" He snarled, conjuring a goblet and thrusting it towards her. Sarah slid away until she was backed against the headboard, the fear of being alone with the villain, on a bed, in nothing but a soaking slip suddenly gripping her head-on. "Get away from me." She protested weakly.
"The water is poisonous, fool." Jareth spat. "Now drink this." He commanded, grabbing her roughly by the shoulder and forcing the goblet's liquid down her throat. It was hot and thick, like butter, and Sarah could not help but swallow it.
"Let me go!" Sarah pulled away from him, grabbing onto the bedpost to pull herself off the bed and into a standing position. "I have to get that crystal out of the river."
"God damn you!" Jareth shouted, grabbing her by the forearms as she stumbled. "The crystal is not in the bloody river!"
"But I saw –"
"Yes, you did." Jareth growled. "What does that matter? I thought you had learned, Sarah, your eyes deceive you."
She'd been a fool. Chasing after something she only assumed to be true. He was right, had she learned no better than to believe that things would be so easy in this place?
"You're hurting me." Sarah said softly, raising her head to look Jareth in the eyes. The vice-like grip he had on her arms slackened, though by all appearances still held her tightly. Anger and frustration were shining in his eyes, contrasted by something else, something fiercer yet...yet.
Not everyone here is out to deceive you. Had he been giving her a clue? Could he have been, dare she think it, helping her?
"You have it." Sarah said suddenly, the feeling slowly seeping back into her toes. "You never threw it anywhere, did you?"
Jareth laughed, short and clipped. "And it only took you ten hours to figure that?" He asked condescendingly. "You are improving." The world, which had taken on quite a blurry appearance after Sarah's little swim, was slowly clearing, so that Sarah could see her surroundings well enough to know that she was back to where she had started. She realized that Jareth no longer held her, and she involuntarily sunk back on his bed. She forced the dazed look she knew played upon her features to take a hike.
The Goblin King, with a twist of his wrist, drew the crystal from a coat pocket, and held it out for Sarah to see.
~
"Hey little fella, what's wrong?" Karen cooed, flipping on the light and walking to her son's crib. Toby immediately stopped crying as his mother scoped him up. "That's my boy." Karen smiled. "Just needed some attention, hmm?" Balancing her son on her hip, she walked down the stairs to where her husband was talking quietly on the phone.
"You haven't heard from her? Well thanks anyway, Laurie. You will let us know if she contacts you, won't you?" Apparently hearing the affirmative, Robert politely said good-bye and hung up the phone.
"No one's heard?" Karen inquired softly.
"None of her friends no where she could be. It just isn't like Sarah to do something like this, especially not to leave Toby here, all alone."
"Let's not jump to conclusions, Rob. Maybe she just ran out to get something and it's taking longer than she thought."
"Out to get something? At midnight?" Robert asked in a hollow tone.
~
"That was my house?" Sarah asked after Jareth pulled away the crystal, though she already knew it was. "Then you've sent Toby home? For real?"
"You found the crystal." Jareth said. "Those were the rules." Strangely, he did not seem disappointed. "Would you rather I bring him back?"
"No!" Sarah answered quickly. "I just, I didn't expect it to be that easy."
"Easy?" Jareth repeated. Sarah definitely did not like that look in his eyes, devious, and almost happy, in a way, as though he knew something she did not. Something she would not approve of if she did know.
"There's a catch." She stated flatly.
"Do you really think so little of me?" The King inquired innocently. "You found the crystal, the babe is safe and sound. What more do you wish?" He asked, arching his eyebrows. Sarah's heart skipped a beat as she caught his meaning.
"What about me?"
"What about you?" Jareth returned, smirking broadly.
"You have to send me home!" Sarah stood again, steadily this time. Whatever potion he had given her had worked, her head felt clearer and her nausea was gone.
"You were never part of the bargain." He replied airily, turning to walk out the door.
"Wait a minute!" Sarah cried, jumping after him and catching him by the shoulder. He turned and looked at her with mild amusement. "You can't keep me here."
"I see no evidence to the contrary." The fae shrugged.
"I won! You have to send me home." Disbelief rang clear in Sarah's voice.
"You lost." Jareth said in a low, threatening tone, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You forfeited the original game, and therefore forfeited your right to return home."
"I did no such thing!"
"Oh? You threw yourself off a fifty-foot ledge. I took it upon myself, the villain," he sneered, "to save your life. Twice. In finding the crystal you secured your brother's safety, not your own." He turned away, walking out the door and fading as he did so. "Enjoy your stay." He laughed. The door slammed shut after him, but Sarah only wrenched it back open.
"Come back here!" She shouted to the empty hallway. "Send me home." Her voice quavered, and Sarah realized she was blinking back tears.
~
That had turned out nicely. Well, not quite nicely, Jareth supposed, but there was no doubt the arrangement was a positive one. He had not started this extravaganza with intentions of keeping Sarah – hah, keeping her, that made her sound like a pet, not a girl – but at any rate, she was here.
He had other things he should be concentrating on, other women that demanded attention, lest they think he had forgotten them. And yet, he had turned his back on the girl for mere seconds, and she had tried to drink the entire Poseidon. What more could he do? He warned her of its dangers, offered to take that imp Arianna off her hands... Anything else would seem a declaration of love... Which was ridiculous. But she was here.
And where, exactly, was he planning to go from here? He should have let her go, that fool-hearty, combative, slip of a girl. He had not reason to make her stay.
But she was here.
A/N#2: I really want to thank all of you that reviewed, because it means so much to me. I promise I'll do individual thanks next chapter, I just wanted to get my updates going as fast as possible. Your feedback really makes my day!