A/N: This is un-beta-ed, because I thought I'd post it asap. Anyways, you'll have to forgive any minor errors, and I'll fix them once I get the corrected version back from the incomprable Lauralye.
Disclaimer: All things remembered belong to Jim Henson and Labyrinth Enterprises among others. Title from Savatage (yes, them again) "Chance."
Never and Forever
Chapter Seven
To See If You're Human After All
I swear on tomorrow if you take this chance
Our lives on this moment
The music the dance
And here in this labyrinth of lost mysteries
I close my eyes on this night
And you're all that I see
~ Savatage "Not What You See"
Sarah looked around at her new surroundings. A dining room, large and airy with an arched ceiling and dimly lit by torches on the walls, candles on the table, a table that was ridiculously small in this gigantic room. Five hundred tables could have fit, where just the one stood, with two high back chairs covered with rich, crimson velvet cushions. Jareth's velvet fingers were still entwined with hers, but Sarah was too tired and confused to care. Where exactly had Mr. Chivalry come from, anyways?
The silence stretched between them as he led her to her chair, and pulled it out for her, only relinquishing her hand once she was seated. Sarah waited, knowing that he would say something, something that would remind her that he was the villain, that the bit about him loving her was just something she had made up that night, that she was forever trapped in this nightmarish fairy tale.
"Happy birthday." He said solemnly, slipping into his chair with a catlike grace. Sarah stared at him blankly.
"What?"
"Sixteen is a very important age for mortals, is it not?" Jareth acted as though this was part of his everyday routine. Make some kingly decisions, kidnap some children, then act cordial with your captive.
"I think I missed the part of the story where you turn into a raving lunatic." Jareth only looked amused.
"Am I not acting out your story to your liking, Sarah? Am I not following the rules?"
"You never followed the rules."
"You never knew the rules." Jareth said shortly.
"I thought they were pretty simple. Solve the Labyrinth, thirteen hours, go home. Where is that unclear?" Sarah demanded.
"You and I were playing different games, Sarah. You lost yours."
"And you?" Jareth paused. His lips looked as though they wanted to betray him, to say something that he did not want her to hear.
"This is not what I brought you here to talk about." He said coldly.
"Well why don't you say whatever it was you wanted to say, and then we can get on with this little trip in hell." Sarah said sharply.
"Really, Sarah, hell? Is there truly no place worse you could be?"
Well, of course there were worse places she could be. Just because she couldn't think of any at the moment didn't mean they didn't exist. She glared at him, his infuriatingly indifferent features, eyeing her as though she was some new curiosity, and not a girl he seemed to greatly enjoy tormenting until she was mad enough to spit nails.
"What did you want to tell me, Jareth?" Sarah sighed. It was getting harder and harder not to feel defeated, when she was trapped in this endless circle, a three-ring circus of pain.
"Eat something, Sarah. You look as though you could use it." Sarah raised her eyes to meet his, surprised. His face was stoic, true, but something mirroring concern was in his voice. Sarah couldn't help the fact that she was hungry, however, and decided that she could take whatever the Goblin King threw at her, poisoned or no.
They ate in silence, for a moment. Jareth's hair looked like burnished gold in the candlelight, his scarlet robes so deep they were almost black. White embellished shirt complimenting his pale skin, overrun with shadows, pouring across his cheeks. Differing eyes focused on his meal, both as cold as ice – and now they looked up at her, and Sarah realized with a start that she had been staring. Staring and thinking what a hauntingly beautiful picture he made.
Suddenly self-conscious Sarah looked away, reminded of the faded jeans and comfy sweatshirt she was wearing, not at all comparable to her royal surroundings. Her hands went to her messy ponytail, untying the ribbon Ari had given her to smooth it out and pull her hair up better, get all those annoying fly-aways tucked in. To look less like a careless slob, though for whom Sarah dared not contemplate.
"Your hair looks better down." The Goblin King said lightly, with the air of someone commenting that the meat was a little tough, and could she pass the salt? Sarah glanced at him briefly, but his face revealed nothing. She combed her fingers through her hair, then let it fall around her shoulders and stuck the ribbon in her pocket.
Don't say it. Sarah told herself forcefully. Don't say it, silence is better then the bitter irony contest you'll be starting if you say it.
"Why are you acting like this?"
Damn.
"Acting like what?" Jareth inquired, pushing back his chair and crossing the small circumference of the table to pull back hers. Sarah racked her mind for a better adjective, something sophisticated, something that wasn't so blatantly curious as to what was going on in his head.
"Nice."
"Am I being nice, then?" Jareth asked, smiling his all-encompassing smirk. "I hadn't noticed."
"That's not what I meant." Sarah said quickly, refusing his hand and standing up from the table.
"Things are not as black and white as you would have them be, Sarah. If I were truly as hateful as you imagine, I would have let you die the many times you gave me the opportunity." He turned from her and started walking across the huge room, and out the door. Sarah ran after him, and caught up with him a few steps out into the hallway.
Truths were pouring out of Jareth's mouth far faster than he intended. In fact, he didn't intend to speak of them at all; some of them he hadn't even realized were true before speaking them aloud. Sarah was quiet, for a moment, walking by his side as he thought quickly, silently. So what if he loved the girl? Love was an emotion, just as easily frozen out as any other. Love was misery and pain, and he would not let himself be trapped so easily, and he certainly would not put his heart out on the line for that mortal child. Girl. Woman, perhaps. He would not. Not again.
"Why did you let me fall?" The question was a surprise, to both of them.
"I did not let you. It was unexpected." Jareth answered shortly, turning down a different corridor and through a large archway, out into the palace gardens.
"Well what did you expect me to do? Throw myself down on the ground, sobbing and begging for my brother's life?" Her sarcasm surprised him.
"I expected you to bargain. Request a trade."
"A trade? What.... oh." A trade. He had expected her to take Toby's place from the very beginning. More and more her foolish wish was seeming like some sort of orchestrated plan to get her here, if not one way than another.
Night had fallen. Silver flowers lined the path they were walking, full and shining brightly in the moonlight. A slight breeze blew and teased both their hair, tossing Sarah's chestnut locks back from her face and twirling Jareth's round his shoulders. Windows were lit up throughout the Goblin City, as its thousands of citizens finished their dinners and prepared for bed. The path turned, opening to an orchard of weeping willows and ethereal trees with a silver glow blocking out the light. Their silence burned Sarah's ears till she could no longer bare it.
"What did you want to talk to me about in the first place?"
"You're having an effect on Arianna." Jareth replied.
"An effect? What are you talking about?" Sarah laid her hand lightly on his arm to make him stop walking, then pulled it back sharply once she realized what she'd done. He stopped anyway, and turned to look at her.
"Lomaria tells me you've spent a great deal of time with the girl."
"So?" Sarah demanded, inwardly shocked and seething that Lomaria and Jareth had talked about her without her knowing.
"The stories you tell her, the games you teach her. She has begun to remember."
"Remember what?" Jareth's eyes lit up with dismay, quickly followed by anger.
"Have you been walking around that house with your eyes closed? Arianna's a human child, Sarah." His voice was hard, and his eyes closed briefly in frustration.
"She was wished away?"
"Not exactly." He turned away and started walking again, but Sarah started quickly after him.
"Not exactly? What is that supposed to mean? Who wished her away? Did they loose at the Labyrinth?" Jareth paused, glancing at her before walking faster down the path.
"Not exactly."
"Are you trying to annoy me?" Sarah demanded, matching him stride for stride. "Did you even give them a chance at the Labyrinth? Or did you just take her?"
"Her mother did not want her. She did not want her daughter, would have left her for dead if she had not, by chance, stumbled over the right words." Sarah stopped dead in her tracks.
"You're serious, aren't you?" Jareth didn't stop till he was several feet in front of her, hair silver and tousled by the wind, mouth twisted downwards in an actual look of sadness.
"More's the pity." He said softly. Regretfulness, and sadness, and actual human emotions crossed his face in blaze of sincerity.
"How old was she?" Sarah asked, crossing the distance between them so earnestly that she had come much closer than she had intended, inches between them.
"Four human years."
"Four? And she doesn't remember it?"
"I cast a spell on her. She is happy not knowing, but you influence her whether you intend to or not, and she will remember. And she will not thank you for it."
"Doesn't she deserve to know?" Sarah asked quietly, tilting up her face to see him better in the dark.
"That is Lomaria's decision, not yours." Jareth replied firmly, raising a gentle hand to brush a stray hair behind Sarah's ear. She had intended to say something else, but conscious thought fled from her mind as she saw his hand from the corner of her eye, slipping across her cheek in a slow, fluid motion.
"I, I can't go back there, not tonight." Sarah said, caught in his gaze as he stared down at her, hand still resting by her cheek, surrounded by silver trees and rising moonlight.
"Stay here tonight." He said softly, bending down. Not a command. Not a suggestion. A simple request, passing the Goblin King's lips. His hand curled back, sliding to her hair and guiding her eyes upward.
"All right." The words had barely escaped her before his lips came down on hers. Soft and gentle, pursuing, as his other hand slipped around her waist, pulling her ever so closer to him. Her hands trailed up across his arms, his shoulder blades to rest around his neck, brushing against silky strands of his hair. The coolest heat ran through Sarah's veins, made her shake against him. Her first kiss.
He pulled away just a little, bringing his hands up to move hers from his neck. "Let me take you to your room." He said softly, their fingers tangling together through the velvet shield with which he covered his, and he pulled her gently down the orchard path, looking at her every now and then to make sure she was real.
~
Sarah awoke in an unfamiliar bed. She was getting used to the unfamiliarity, accustomed to the unpredictability her life had taken. It took her but a moment to remember where she was this morning, why she was tangled in silken sheets of a creamy white that were neither her own nor of the guestroom in Lomaria's home.
Sarah rolled over, closing her eyes against the sunlight and clutching at the pillow beside her. So she had given in. Accepted the guest room in Jareth's castle – at least she could reassure herself with the fact that she hadn't spent the night in his room. One first that night had been enough for her, not that Jareth would have even allowed it.
Jareth. Not the Goblin King. Not that vile, treacherous fae she had read about in her storybook. Perhaps he was human, after all.
The floor was deathly cold against her bare feet, but Sarah didn't mind. Her eyes had alighted upon a certain piece of fabric draped across the silver bench at the vanity table across the room.
A soft, silky lilac gown, embellished with silver thread and white lace across a puckered neckline, with sweeping sleeves and a trailing skirt. A dress, Sarah thought as she pulled it on, for a princess. Or perhaps a queen.
~
"Where's Jareth?" Sarah asked, stopping a small maid in the hall that looked like a mix of fae and goblin.
"You mean the Goblin King, miss?" The maid asked, over the pile of midnight blue sheets she was carrying.
"Are there many more Jareth's living in this castle?" Sarah asked, smiling. "Do you know where I can find him?"
"He's left, miss."
"Left?" Sarah repeated, brow knitted with surprise.
"Yes, miss. He left for the Elfin kingdom this morning. He goes away on business all the time, you know. He'll be back by tomorrow night, I'm sure." The maid reassured her, seeing the aghast look on Sarah's features.
"Thank you." Sarah murmured softly, as the maid gave her one final look before continuing on her way.
"He left. Left."
Wait a sec. Am I seriously thanking people here? Getting off (or rather, on) my lazy butt and thanking people for being the highlight of my day? I love it when you review, guys, seriously. I especially appreciate all of you who are still here, supporting me when I'm being a good-for-nothing, no-post-in-a-month writer. Here's to my wonderful readers:
Chapter One:
Bella, Celestia, dawn, LabyLoverLaurie, Lady Mags, Silver Space, Claire Starling, Leigh, Firebrand, Emerald The Lady Destiny, Kathryn, Lyra Matsuoka, The Hooded Crow, BJ, cosmic, Ella, Ki-Chan, Kitty Hikaru, Cyanne, Dark Star Queen, Anti-Gravity-Chica
Chapter Two:
Bella, JupLuna, Emerald The Lady Destiny, Jareth&Sarah4ever, The Hodded Crow, Silver Space, Zaria, PeachDreamer, kate, LiNa, Lyra Matsuoka, Xelena, Akira Silveracious Majere, Dark Star Queen, Corona, Catt, guenevereandromeda, dawn, Richard, Tempus Vernum, Anti-Gravity-Chica
Chapter Three:
Emerald The Lady Destiny, Silver Space, Erin-21
Chapter Four:
Tempus Vernum, Lyra Matsuoka, Nirvana, Nika-Chan, Silver Space, dawn, Richard, Ankle, Katy, Elona, Shadowcat, SILVER FOXX 411, **A Fan** , Farseeker, Nirvana (who somehow outwitted the system and reviewed the same chapter twice!)
Chapter Five:
Ezra's Angel, Baloo, Silver Space, Midnight Lady, dawn, Catt, queenofworld, Kei, Kappy
Chapter Six:
Baloo (I didn't wait too long, did I?), Anti-Gravity-Chica, Lyra Matsuoka, Anne-Marie, Nika-Chan, queenofworld, dawn, Silver Space, Iden's Garden, Midnight Lady, Zephyrel, Ezra's Angel
And the Most Dedicated Reader Award goes to... Silver Space, who's reviewed every chapter thus far! Round of applause, please!Ha