Okie, here's another chapter! *wavies to FlyAway* Happy now? n.- Thanks
to Corrie, my wonderful creative consultant, and all my happy readers. n.n
Disc: *sigh* Do we really need to go through this again? Alex is mine, no one else in this chapter is. *wanders off to cry*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hungry, Jareth?" Sarah came up from the evening's dinner with a plate of something in her hands. Jareth looked up from where he had been blissfully catching up on his sleep, craning his neck to see over the edge of the box without actually getting up. What had she brought him? He was -definitely- hungry.
"Look what I saved just for you," she exclaimed, holding up a thick slice of roast beef. Jareth eyed it disdainfully. Did she honestly expect him to eat -that-? He was fairly certain that his stomach wasn't designed to handle cow, roasted or not.
Sarah noticed him looking askance at her offering and sighed. "Yeah, I know, it's not what you're used to, but I don't want you to starve and it was the best I could do on short notice." She tore off a piece and held it out to him on the end of a pair of salad tongs. "C'mon, try it at least?"
Jareth eyed the morsel and weighed his options. Trying a -little- wouldn't hurt, especially if the alternative was to go hungry. He was famished enough as it was to take the risk, and he doubted that it would kill him, in any case. The fact that it wasn't a natural part of his diet in this form didn't necessarily mean that it was unhealthy.
Sarah nearly lost her loose grip on the tongs as the owl ripped the meat away and wolfed it down ravenously. She thought for a moment that he might choke on it at the rate it disappeared down his gullet.
"Whoa, slow down there!" She giggled as he leaned forward, fixing her with a look which clearly said 'Well? Where's the rest, hmmm?'
Jareth snatched up the next chunk of meat and swallowed gleefully. Oh, but it was -so- GOOD... it seemed like forever since the last time he'd had roast, and it was every bit as juicy and mouth-wateringly tender as he remembered it to be. He was torn between savouring the taste and satisfying the terrible hunger in his belly. Sadly, the hunger won out, and he had to settle for whatever snatches of flavour he caught on the way down.
"Sorry, there's no more," Sarah held up the empty plate, laughing when the owl glared at her accusingly, as if to say 'What do you MEAN, there's no more!?' "You ate it all!" She said in her defense, still giggling.
Jareth sat back, clearly unsatisfied. That slip of meat hadn't been nearly enough to sate his hunger. Of course, she couldn't know that. If only he could hunt for himself. It wasn't fair!
He paused and blinked. And now he was thinking like the girl as well? It had to be something in the food. That would certainly explain a lot, he thought dryly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sarah rolled her eyes and growled under her breath. She was trying her best to ignore the shouting from the back yard, but it wasn't working. It wouldn't be as bad if she could get up and close the window, but that would give her away, so instead she sat and buried her nose in a book, hoping that Alex would give up eventually.
"C'mon, Sarah! I know you're up there, you never leave your window open unless you're in there." Damn, he knew her too well. "Come on, would you just talk to me?" A sigh from below. "Please, Sar-bear?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow at the childhood nickname. Alex hadn't called her 'Sar-bear' since she was 8 years old. Sighing, she got up and went to the window.
"What do you want?" She put more venom into her standard query than she meant to as she looked down into her dark back yard.
"Just wanted to talk, Sar. Kinda apologize for being such a dick last night."
"So apologize." Sarah sounded impatient.
Alex sighed. "Look, would you come out here and talk? Don't wanna wake up all the neighbours."
"That certainly didn't bother you a minute ago," Sarah remarked. He put on a pouty face, and after a moment she relented. "Fine, hang on, I'll be down in just a minute."
He was waiting beside the back porch when she finally emerged. At least he had the sense to not point out how she'd taken much longer than the promised minute.
"So talk." Sarah took a seat on the porch steps, and Alex sat down beside her. There was a long silence while he lit up a cigarette and took a long drag.
"So. How's the bird?" He asked conversationally.
"The owl is fine," she answered coolly, putting emphasis on the word 'owl'.
"Wow, lucky bastard actually made it... huh." He'd obviously expected a different answer. "Look," he continued after a brief pause, "I really am sorry about last night. Me and the guys, well... I guess we were out of line. I just didn't want you stressing over some little animal that was probably gonna die anyway."
"And you were wrong," Sarah stated.
"Shit, Sar." He ran his fingers through his scraggly hair. "I'm tryin' to apologize here."
"So go ahead," Sarah snapped. "Part of apologizing is admitting when you're wrong."
"Christ, Sarah, I was sur-" he began, but the look on Sarah's face stopped him mid-sentence. "Okay, okay..." he conceded, raising his hands defensively, "I'll admit that I was wrong about the owl."
"Thank you," Sarah said exasperatedly, and started to get up.
"Hey, just a second, I wasn't finished," Alex protested. He grabbed Sarah by the wrist and pulled her back down. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for spazzing out on you, too. It wasn't your fault and you didn't deserve it. We were all really angry, and I really didn't mean to take it out on you. So I'm sorry about that, too. Just don't be angry anymore, okay?"
"Why, Alex..." Sarah was speechless. She gave him a great big smile. "That was one of the nicest apologies I've ever gotten."
"Yeah, well..." Alex looked away, embarrassed. "I figured you deserved a good one after you left all upset last night. We didn't mean to piss you off or anything."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed amiably, "I guess we all kinda lost it."
"So we friends?"
Sarah considered for a moment. Alex really hadn't changed that much, she guessed. He earned points right away for his willingness to apologize without any prodding, which was more than she could say for a lot of people. He couldn't be all that bad, then, so she should probably give him another chance.
"Friends," she agreed.
"Cool." He gave her a quick hug to seal the deal. Sarah was caught off- guard, and she blushed and pulled away.
"So, um, I guess I'd better get inside before Karen finds me out here," Sarah suggested, before the awkward moment could drag itself out.
"Yeah, you'd better do that." Alex flicked the cigarette butt out onto the lawn and stood up. "See you around, hey?"
"Sure. Night Alex."
"Later," he called as he ambled back over to his own yard.
Sarah watched him go and shook her head. She never would have expected Alex to apologize for harsh words said while drunk. It hadn't really seemed like something he would do, but she'd judged him wrong, it seemed. People could really surprise you sometimes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While Jareth had enjoyed the food Sarah had brought him, his stomach was not inclined to agree. As it happened, he spent a miserable evening feeling as if his innards were tying themselves into knots, and his mood was not improved by the brat's appearance under Sarah's window. He could hear every single word as the boy pleaded for Sarah's forgiveness like a besotted fool. The little snot was horning in on Jareth's territory yet again, and the fact that he could do nothing to prevent it irritated him to no end. Overall, he was not enjoying himself, and it wasn't until around midnight that it finally ended with him being violently ill. Sarah was still awake reading, and she rushed over immediately. Jareth felt utterly humiliated.
"Oh, no..." Sarah sighed. "I guess the beef didn't work out for you, huh? Poor thing..."
Poor thing, indeed. It wouldn't be half so bad if she wasn't there hovering over him like a mother hen. Being ill was something he could manage. Being ill in front of his Sarah was too embarrassing for words. In fact, if the girl wasn't around at all, he wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. He would still be in the Underground, ruling over his hordes of goblins. They were smelly, stupid creatures, but they were loyal (for the most part), and they were his. This whole ugly situation of being helpless and submissive didn't suit him at all.
"I guess we'll have to try something else," Sarah was saying. "You sure are a picky eater." She wrinkled her nose at the mess he'd made on the floor of the box. "Guess we'd better get that cleaned up. Wait here, I'll be right back.."
She said that as if he could leave at any time, Jareth noted sourly. Then again, she seemed to know it was him, so it was a fairly good assumption on her part. If only circumstances were what they should be. He would be back home in an eye blink.
Home. Jareth realized he hadn't really thought about home in quite a while, so preoccupied was he with self-pity and plans of revenge. He wondered how his subjects were faring without him. His castle was probably in a shambles by now. It couldn't be helped. He would have quite the time setting it to rights when he got back. If he got back.
Another thought occured to him and he shivered involuntarily. What if there was no home for him to go back to? His realm had nearly ceased to exist before, and that had been with him there to try and prevent it from fading into nothing. He had come so very close to failing... Sarah had intervened just in time. What would happen now, with the Labyrinth's ruler trapped Aboveground? In stripping him of his powers, Sarah had unwittingly accepted the responsibility of keeping his kingdom alive. Now the fate of his realm rested solely upon her unknowing shoulders. If she decided that she had outgrown it, there would be nothing he could do to regain what would be lost. What was done, was done. And he didn't like that idea at all.
He firmly pushed such thoughts out of his mind. It wouldn't do to dwell on what-ifs, especially when he was in no state to do anything about them.
Now Sarah, on the other hand... there was a problem that concerned him directly. That girl was puzzling, to say the least. She continually addressed him by name, even dropped occasional hints that she knew of his identity, and yet the manner in which she treated him was contrary to how he would have expected her to act towards a hated foe. Sarah was capable of being kind, true, but not to him. Never to him. She'd damned them to be enemies with her own words, and far be it for her to go back on that. He would forever be the cold, prideful, heartless villain in her eyes; it mattered little what he did to convince her otherwise. She was simply -not- that forgiving.
So what, then? Was this her own unique brand of revenge? The irony was not lost on Jareth. All of his brooding, scheming, rejecting idea after idea in an attempt to find a suitable punishment for the girl, and she'd beaten him to it. Beaten him at his own game yet again. Was she laughing at him even now? Finding amusement in holding him here at her mercy?
He was in a dark mood indeed by the time Sarah returned with fresh towels and a new hot water bottle. She nearly dropped her armload at his unexpected violent hiss.
"Easy, now..." she murmured placatingly, "it's okay, Jareth, it's just me..."
Jareth snapped his beak viciously. He would not sit by and let her laugh at him. His pride would not allow it.
"Shhh," she soothed, depositing her bundle on the bed and snatching a towel from the top of the pile before inching forward cautiously. This whole towel thing was growing decidedly repetitive, Jareth noted with more than a little annoyance. He'd avoid it this time, even if he had to attack her to get his point across.
Sarah paused mid-step. Something in the owl's stance warned her that he wasn't in the mood to tolerate her. He was probably upset over how the meat she had given him had made him sick. At this rate, he would never trust her.
"It's okay... easy..."she whispered, "Don't you remember me, Jareth?" She inched closer.
Jareth paused mid-hiss as a sense of deja vu sank in. He had the oddest feeling that she'd said those words to him before, yet he could not bring to mind when she'd done it. He thought that he had clearly remembered every single encounter they had had, and she'd never uttered such a line, at least not to his recollection.
The towel was over him the next instant, and he shrieked indignantly. Damn it to hell, he'd gotten distracted, and now he was caught again. He remembered in time to not attempt to squirm loose, striking blindly with his talons instead. He heard her sharp intake of breath and he was dropped onto the floor, shaking the towel loose and scrambling under the bed.
He genuinely expected to face her wrath, to have her get angry at him and lash out. When he heard nothing, he poked his head out from under the edge of the comforter to see what was happening.
Sarah was still standing beside the box, the towel lying in a faded yellow heap at her feet. She was staring at her arm, where a long, deep slash ran from midway up her forearm to the inside of her wrist. She seemed to be in a sort of shock, entranced by the blood that was seeping from the shallow end of the cut and welling quickly from the deeper end. Her face had gone pale, although that was probably from the shock as well.
Jareth panicked. He hadn't meant to actually cut her! He hadn't been able to see, had assumed his attack would miss! He'd only meant it as a warning, he would never actually physically harm his Sarah! The guilt slammed into him as he stood there, at a loss. What had he done!?
He sank to the floor as Sarah lurched from the room, calling for her father and stepmother. There was the sound of Karen demanding that she keep her voice down, she'd wake Toby, followed by a startled gasp and Sarah's father demanding to know what had happened. Karen was muttering angrily about how she'd told Sarah that taking in a wild animal was a bad idea, and that they'd better get her to the hospital right away in case it was carrying diseases or something.
Jareth listened as they gathered a few things and left to rush Sarah to emergency, feeling very, very small. He'd never shown violence towards a woman before, and now he'd endangered his Sarah with his carelessness. His sweet, precious Sarah. All thoughts of vengeance were forgotten as he sat in a daze, praying to whoever might be listening that she was alright. For his kingdom's sake, and for his own.
Disc: *sigh* Do we really need to go through this again? Alex is mine, no one else in this chapter is. *wanders off to cry*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hungry, Jareth?" Sarah came up from the evening's dinner with a plate of something in her hands. Jareth looked up from where he had been blissfully catching up on his sleep, craning his neck to see over the edge of the box without actually getting up. What had she brought him? He was -definitely- hungry.
"Look what I saved just for you," she exclaimed, holding up a thick slice of roast beef. Jareth eyed it disdainfully. Did she honestly expect him to eat -that-? He was fairly certain that his stomach wasn't designed to handle cow, roasted or not.
Sarah noticed him looking askance at her offering and sighed. "Yeah, I know, it's not what you're used to, but I don't want you to starve and it was the best I could do on short notice." She tore off a piece and held it out to him on the end of a pair of salad tongs. "C'mon, try it at least?"
Jareth eyed the morsel and weighed his options. Trying a -little- wouldn't hurt, especially if the alternative was to go hungry. He was famished enough as it was to take the risk, and he doubted that it would kill him, in any case. The fact that it wasn't a natural part of his diet in this form didn't necessarily mean that it was unhealthy.
Sarah nearly lost her loose grip on the tongs as the owl ripped the meat away and wolfed it down ravenously. She thought for a moment that he might choke on it at the rate it disappeared down his gullet.
"Whoa, slow down there!" She giggled as he leaned forward, fixing her with a look which clearly said 'Well? Where's the rest, hmmm?'
Jareth snatched up the next chunk of meat and swallowed gleefully. Oh, but it was -so- GOOD... it seemed like forever since the last time he'd had roast, and it was every bit as juicy and mouth-wateringly tender as he remembered it to be. He was torn between savouring the taste and satisfying the terrible hunger in his belly. Sadly, the hunger won out, and he had to settle for whatever snatches of flavour he caught on the way down.
"Sorry, there's no more," Sarah held up the empty plate, laughing when the owl glared at her accusingly, as if to say 'What do you MEAN, there's no more!?' "You ate it all!" She said in her defense, still giggling.
Jareth sat back, clearly unsatisfied. That slip of meat hadn't been nearly enough to sate his hunger. Of course, she couldn't know that. If only he could hunt for himself. It wasn't fair!
He paused and blinked. And now he was thinking like the girl as well? It had to be something in the food. That would certainly explain a lot, he thought dryly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sarah rolled her eyes and growled under her breath. She was trying her best to ignore the shouting from the back yard, but it wasn't working. It wouldn't be as bad if she could get up and close the window, but that would give her away, so instead she sat and buried her nose in a book, hoping that Alex would give up eventually.
"C'mon, Sarah! I know you're up there, you never leave your window open unless you're in there." Damn, he knew her too well. "Come on, would you just talk to me?" A sigh from below. "Please, Sar-bear?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow at the childhood nickname. Alex hadn't called her 'Sar-bear' since she was 8 years old. Sighing, she got up and went to the window.
"What do you want?" She put more venom into her standard query than she meant to as she looked down into her dark back yard.
"Just wanted to talk, Sar. Kinda apologize for being such a dick last night."
"So apologize." Sarah sounded impatient.
Alex sighed. "Look, would you come out here and talk? Don't wanna wake up all the neighbours."
"That certainly didn't bother you a minute ago," Sarah remarked. He put on a pouty face, and after a moment she relented. "Fine, hang on, I'll be down in just a minute."
He was waiting beside the back porch when she finally emerged. At least he had the sense to not point out how she'd taken much longer than the promised minute.
"So talk." Sarah took a seat on the porch steps, and Alex sat down beside her. There was a long silence while he lit up a cigarette and took a long drag.
"So. How's the bird?" He asked conversationally.
"The owl is fine," she answered coolly, putting emphasis on the word 'owl'.
"Wow, lucky bastard actually made it... huh." He'd obviously expected a different answer. "Look," he continued after a brief pause, "I really am sorry about last night. Me and the guys, well... I guess we were out of line. I just didn't want you stressing over some little animal that was probably gonna die anyway."
"And you were wrong," Sarah stated.
"Shit, Sar." He ran his fingers through his scraggly hair. "I'm tryin' to apologize here."
"So go ahead," Sarah snapped. "Part of apologizing is admitting when you're wrong."
"Christ, Sarah, I was sur-" he began, but the look on Sarah's face stopped him mid-sentence. "Okay, okay..." he conceded, raising his hands defensively, "I'll admit that I was wrong about the owl."
"Thank you," Sarah said exasperatedly, and started to get up.
"Hey, just a second, I wasn't finished," Alex protested. He grabbed Sarah by the wrist and pulled her back down. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for spazzing out on you, too. It wasn't your fault and you didn't deserve it. We were all really angry, and I really didn't mean to take it out on you. So I'm sorry about that, too. Just don't be angry anymore, okay?"
"Why, Alex..." Sarah was speechless. She gave him a great big smile. "That was one of the nicest apologies I've ever gotten."
"Yeah, well..." Alex looked away, embarrassed. "I figured you deserved a good one after you left all upset last night. We didn't mean to piss you off or anything."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed amiably, "I guess we all kinda lost it."
"So we friends?"
Sarah considered for a moment. Alex really hadn't changed that much, she guessed. He earned points right away for his willingness to apologize without any prodding, which was more than she could say for a lot of people. He couldn't be all that bad, then, so she should probably give him another chance.
"Friends," she agreed.
"Cool." He gave her a quick hug to seal the deal. Sarah was caught off- guard, and she blushed and pulled away.
"So, um, I guess I'd better get inside before Karen finds me out here," Sarah suggested, before the awkward moment could drag itself out.
"Yeah, you'd better do that." Alex flicked the cigarette butt out onto the lawn and stood up. "See you around, hey?"
"Sure. Night Alex."
"Later," he called as he ambled back over to his own yard.
Sarah watched him go and shook her head. She never would have expected Alex to apologize for harsh words said while drunk. It hadn't really seemed like something he would do, but she'd judged him wrong, it seemed. People could really surprise you sometimes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While Jareth had enjoyed the food Sarah had brought him, his stomach was not inclined to agree. As it happened, he spent a miserable evening feeling as if his innards were tying themselves into knots, and his mood was not improved by the brat's appearance under Sarah's window. He could hear every single word as the boy pleaded for Sarah's forgiveness like a besotted fool. The little snot was horning in on Jareth's territory yet again, and the fact that he could do nothing to prevent it irritated him to no end. Overall, he was not enjoying himself, and it wasn't until around midnight that it finally ended with him being violently ill. Sarah was still awake reading, and she rushed over immediately. Jareth felt utterly humiliated.
"Oh, no..." Sarah sighed. "I guess the beef didn't work out for you, huh? Poor thing..."
Poor thing, indeed. It wouldn't be half so bad if she wasn't there hovering over him like a mother hen. Being ill was something he could manage. Being ill in front of his Sarah was too embarrassing for words. In fact, if the girl wasn't around at all, he wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. He would still be in the Underground, ruling over his hordes of goblins. They were smelly, stupid creatures, but they were loyal (for the most part), and they were his. This whole ugly situation of being helpless and submissive didn't suit him at all.
"I guess we'll have to try something else," Sarah was saying. "You sure are a picky eater." She wrinkled her nose at the mess he'd made on the floor of the box. "Guess we'd better get that cleaned up. Wait here, I'll be right back.."
She said that as if he could leave at any time, Jareth noted sourly. Then again, she seemed to know it was him, so it was a fairly good assumption on her part. If only circumstances were what they should be. He would be back home in an eye blink.
Home. Jareth realized he hadn't really thought about home in quite a while, so preoccupied was he with self-pity and plans of revenge. He wondered how his subjects were faring without him. His castle was probably in a shambles by now. It couldn't be helped. He would have quite the time setting it to rights when he got back. If he got back.
Another thought occured to him and he shivered involuntarily. What if there was no home for him to go back to? His realm had nearly ceased to exist before, and that had been with him there to try and prevent it from fading into nothing. He had come so very close to failing... Sarah had intervened just in time. What would happen now, with the Labyrinth's ruler trapped Aboveground? In stripping him of his powers, Sarah had unwittingly accepted the responsibility of keeping his kingdom alive. Now the fate of his realm rested solely upon her unknowing shoulders. If she decided that she had outgrown it, there would be nothing he could do to regain what would be lost. What was done, was done. And he didn't like that idea at all.
He firmly pushed such thoughts out of his mind. It wouldn't do to dwell on what-ifs, especially when he was in no state to do anything about them.
Now Sarah, on the other hand... there was a problem that concerned him directly. That girl was puzzling, to say the least. She continually addressed him by name, even dropped occasional hints that she knew of his identity, and yet the manner in which she treated him was contrary to how he would have expected her to act towards a hated foe. Sarah was capable of being kind, true, but not to him. Never to him. She'd damned them to be enemies with her own words, and far be it for her to go back on that. He would forever be the cold, prideful, heartless villain in her eyes; it mattered little what he did to convince her otherwise. She was simply -not- that forgiving.
So what, then? Was this her own unique brand of revenge? The irony was not lost on Jareth. All of his brooding, scheming, rejecting idea after idea in an attempt to find a suitable punishment for the girl, and she'd beaten him to it. Beaten him at his own game yet again. Was she laughing at him even now? Finding amusement in holding him here at her mercy?
He was in a dark mood indeed by the time Sarah returned with fresh towels and a new hot water bottle. She nearly dropped her armload at his unexpected violent hiss.
"Easy, now..." she murmured placatingly, "it's okay, Jareth, it's just me..."
Jareth snapped his beak viciously. He would not sit by and let her laugh at him. His pride would not allow it.
"Shhh," she soothed, depositing her bundle on the bed and snatching a towel from the top of the pile before inching forward cautiously. This whole towel thing was growing decidedly repetitive, Jareth noted with more than a little annoyance. He'd avoid it this time, even if he had to attack her to get his point across.
Sarah paused mid-step. Something in the owl's stance warned her that he wasn't in the mood to tolerate her. He was probably upset over how the meat she had given him had made him sick. At this rate, he would never trust her.
"It's okay... easy..."she whispered, "Don't you remember me, Jareth?" She inched closer.
Jareth paused mid-hiss as a sense of deja vu sank in. He had the oddest feeling that she'd said those words to him before, yet he could not bring to mind when she'd done it. He thought that he had clearly remembered every single encounter they had had, and she'd never uttered such a line, at least not to his recollection.
The towel was over him the next instant, and he shrieked indignantly. Damn it to hell, he'd gotten distracted, and now he was caught again. He remembered in time to not attempt to squirm loose, striking blindly with his talons instead. He heard her sharp intake of breath and he was dropped onto the floor, shaking the towel loose and scrambling under the bed.
He genuinely expected to face her wrath, to have her get angry at him and lash out. When he heard nothing, he poked his head out from under the edge of the comforter to see what was happening.
Sarah was still standing beside the box, the towel lying in a faded yellow heap at her feet. She was staring at her arm, where a long, deep slash ran from midway up her forearm to the inside of her wrist. She seemed to be in a sort of shock, entranced by the blood that was seeping from the shallow end of the cut and welling quickly from the deeper end. Her face had gone pale, although that was probably from the shock as well.
Jareth panicked. He hadn't meant to actually cut her! He hadn't been able to see, had assumed his attack would miss! He'd only meant it as a warning, he would never actually physically harm his Sarah! The guilt slammed into him as he stood there, at a loss. What had he done!?
He sank to the floor as Sarah lurched from the room, calling for her father and stepmother. There was the sound of Karen demanding that she keep her voice down, she'd wake Toby, followed by a startled gasp and Sarah's father demanding to know what had happened. Karen was muttering angrily about how she'd told Sarah that taking in a wild animal was a bad idea, and that they'd better get her to the hospital right away in case it was carrying diseases or something.
Jareth listened as they gathered a few things and left to rush Sarah to emergency, feeling very, very small. He'd never shown violence towards a woman before, and now he'd endangered his Sarah with his carelessness. His sweet, precious Sarah. All thoughts of vengeance were forgotten as he sat in a daze, praying to whoever might be listening that she was alright. For his kingdom's sake, and for his own.