A/N: Yes, I am a horrible slacker. Thank you.
Disclaimer: Characters and setting belong to Jim Henson and Labyrinth Enterprises (if such a thing exists) Chapter title belongs to M2M, from their song…. "Don't Say You Love Me." (tricky, huh?)
Never and Forever
Chapter Nine
Don't Say You Love Me
Sarah ran. Down the corridors and through the hallways, her feet pounding against the harsh stone. But she didn't leave the castle. She could tell herself that it was too late at night to consider the city a save haven, that the rapidly subsiding storm was making it highly illogical to run out to freedom, but the truth behind it was that she couldn't take that freedom. Not yet.
She easily found the way to her guest room, whipping open the door and slipping through to the other side, forcing herself not to slam it. Instead she slid it shut slowly, leaning against it; her eyes closed to prevent the unwanted, childish tears from streaming down her face.
"We must finish this."
Sarah didn't have to look to know who it was. There was no one else that would follow her, and no one else that she would argue with so.
"I stormed off, Jareth. It doesn't work if you come with me." She wiped her eyes briefly with the back of her hand before turning to find him leaning against one of the bedposts.
"I never would have believed you would run away, Sarah. How immeasurably childish."
"Funny thing about that, Jareth. I am a child! I'm sixteen, and I'm sorry if that's a problem for you. I don't know what I'm doing, or what the hell you're doing, or –"
"Did you just apologize?" He interrupted, walking towards her while she leaned against the door for support.
"No." Sarah lied, though she wasn't even sure why she was saying the words that passed her lips. He leaned in closer, placing one hand on either side of her shoulders to effectively pin her against the door.
"You are not a child." He said, after considering her for a moment with his sharp, contrasting eyes. "You have said so yourself, so many times. Now you insist that you are not grown? Somewhere in-between, perhaps. Stubborn, obnoxious, yet beautiful." He continued, running one gloved hand across her cheek.
"Stop." Sarah demanded, turning her head away. "You don't get to do this to me, not now. Not until you –"
"Until I what? Prove myself to you? Become your medieval knight in shining armor? It will never happen. I am not a prince, Sarah, not a true love."
"I hate you." She said, because she meant it.
"And that is why you stay." They locked eyes for a moment, and Sarah paused before she answered. I stay because you make me, had been on the tip of her tongue. I stay because I haven't found a way to escape yet, she thought. He wore too many masks, she'd said, and for the life of her she didn't know if this was just another. But a tiny part of her heard his statement as something different. Something that her Goblin King would never ask her, but perhaps the King of the Goblin City that everyone tried to tell her about would have said it. Will you stay? He almost asked, or never asked, but Sarah heard it even if it wasn't there.
"I stay because you've trapped me against the door." She said, a slight smile slipping across her lips. I stay because I don't know what to think of you, she almost said. And I can't leave until I find out.
~
"And then?"
"What do you mean, 'and then?' " Sarah mimicked Lomaria's anxious tone. She considered telling her that then she and Jareth had mad, passionate sex on the castle floor, but Ari was perched solemnly atop Sarah's shoulders as the three of them walked through the bustling city, in the wake of seven rambunctious brothers. Ari's formal mortality still weighed heavily on Sarah's mind, and though she determined that she couldn't help but be a human influence on her, she would at least try to be a decent influence, and therefore abbreviated her retelling of her argument with the Goblin King the night before.
Lomaria was still staring. Oh, Sarah thought suddenly, surely she doesn't think that we actually…
"We kissed a little, then we were most unfortunately interrupted by a messenger from that elf kingdom that keeps making a nuisance of itself." Sarah said hastily, blushing. Lomaria let out an audible sigh of relief. "Honestly!" Sarah cried, eyes wide with indignation. "You didn't actually think that I would have – " She broke off abruptly, remembering that children were listening. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up at the thought of the mysterious elf kingdom that Jareth had run off to a the day before, but she could only put it on the list of things that she did not understand.
"Candy store!" This was the second time Ari had opened her mouth that day, the first to exclaim, "Hi, Sarah!" when Sarah came down the walk. Sarah was sort of nervous that the goblin girly was coming down with something – assuming, that is, that goblin children did come down with colds and things – and was just a little tired. Lomaria tossed a sidelong look at Sarah, then gave out brisk orders like this was a tried and true routine.
"In and out kids, all right? One piece and that's it, no whining or I'm leaving you all here to pay for it yourselves." The eight children made a chorus of yes, mom, and flew into the store like a flock of very excited birds.
Two clerks were sitting behind the countertop, chatting amicably.
"Certainly, I think it's true." The first one, a willowy elf, was saying to a squabby-looking goblin when the ten of them walked in. "My Denksin works with the caterers, you know, and he told me just this morning that His Majesty was sending out orders for quite the royal shindig, if you know what I mean."
"It's just what we've been hoping for. And now that King Jareth's finally found love – "
"Oh, stop being so corny," scoffed the elf, batting the goblin (which was at least two feet shorter and perched on a high stool) lightly on the arm. "You'll scare our customers away." The two finally turned their attention to Sarah, Lomaria, and the swarm of children. "How may we help – Lady Sarah!" The last part was a startled exclamation, and Sarah probably would have laughed or blushed, but her mind was caught on a certain phrase said carelessly moments ago, and she only stared blankly at the pair. This time it was the goblin swatting the elf, and muttering something that sounded like quiet, you mimblewimble.
The children, having paid absolutely no mind to the adults' conversation, had finished circling the store like vultures, taking in everything that had been carefully stocked behind panes of glass, and came rushing up to the clerks in a noisy but ordered line – oldest to youngest, from Rem ordering a sludgesicle, which looked like it had been made from sewer water, to Ari, who daintily required an ice cream cone. "Slug and slime, please." She said in a shy whisper. "Two scoops."
Sarah's thoughts flipped around in disobedient circles, centering on the goblin's trifling words. Now that King Jareth's finally found love. Oh, the goblin did mean her, right? Sarah's mind conflicted. She certainly did not want Jareth to be in love with another – and he wasn't, Sarah knew. But she was also unsure if she wanted to be connected to him with such a powerful word. Love? She'd kissed him once or twice, to be sure, and thought him handsome. She'd just been living her adventure, with no thought as to what would become of it.
She suddenly realized that her age could no longer be measured in years – it wasn't the fact that she was sixteen that made her young. The fact that she'd never dated before, never faced the world without someone's protecting arm around her, never thought about that fairy tale word tying her to that frustrating and frightening man – it made her immeasurably childish, as Jareth had said. Why would he love a child?
Her mind jumped back into her body with a harsh-feeling smack, and she found herself clutching Ari's sticky hand with Lomaria on her other arm, giving her a concerned look that reminded Sarah of her mother. They were nearing Lomaria's home, the disastrous brothers already bursting through the door so they could hurry up and put down their mother's silly things from the apothecary and go search for the new tunnel that was supposedly born into the Labyrinth that morning.
"Am I supposed to love him?" Sarah asked suddenly, shuffling over the threshold, as Ari dawdled beside her in a similar manner.
"Child, 'supposed to' has nothing to do with it." Lomaria was taking bottles and powders out of cloth bags and putting them onto shelves, in cupboards, or leaving a few of them to stand importantly on the counter. "Don't pay any mind to those clerks. They're gossipmongers, and hardly ever speak a word of fact. They wouldn't have said it if they had known you were there."
"And that makes it untrue?"
"I'm not saying it's untrue, I'm saying… Sarah, some rough times are ahead. And not just for you and Jareth, but for all of us. Drink some of this, will you?" She pushed a cup into Sarah's hands, who eyed the floating twigs in it warily. Lomaria poured Ari a cup as well, who was still holding Sarah's hand and apparently not listening to the conversation. Sarah watched Lomaria drain her own cup quickly, twigs excepted, and Sarah did the same. Lomaria took the cup back from her, swirling the soggy branches around in the cups and then spilling them out onto a saucer.
"It's just as I thought." She said, sighing. Sarah realized that she was reading tea leaves, although without the actual tea leaves. "Sarah, I know you're still working out your emotions and feelings for King Jareth, but time is drawing short, and I don't want you getting trapped in the melodrama. I'm afraid that –" Sarah felt Ari's warm, sticky hand drop from hers, and turned to see her glassy eyes fall shut before she fainted. Sarah scrambled to catch her fall, twisting down to her knees to grab Ari's shoulders and cradling her head to keep her from hitting the hard, stone floor.
Lomaria screamed. The canister of purple powder she had been holding tumbled to the floor, spilling across the ground like smoke. "Ari! Arianna!" Lomaria swooped up her unconscious child in her arms, and her tears began to fall. "Ari! Wake up, Arianna, please!"