Title: Square One
Rating: PG
Content: Romance. I admit it :-)
Disclaimer: Labyrinth is property of its assorted copyright holders.
Note: Grammar is not my forte. Please overlook my lack of it. Oh, and this is a companion piece to The Morning After
Warning: This Chapter contains a lot of profanity. My apologies to anyone this offends, but I thought it was necessary for the story.
Feedback: Please. :-) Whether you hate it or love it, please just let me know if you've read it :-)
Chapter Five
Sarah slapped her forehead in embarrassment as she continued trotting down the stone walkway, following Dee sheepishly.
"Okay, okay. I get your point," Sarah grumbled softly as she looked towards the sky. "I can't walk into chaos and expect predictability. Lesson learned. Can we just move on now?"
It had truly been a most rotten half-hour since she had allowed Dee to take the lead. At first, her friend had been timid and uncertain, but with each turn she found, she seemed to be gaining more and more confidence. Every judgement Sarah made turned out to be wrong, every memory she had of the layout was eventually proven incorrect. Nothing here was as she remembered and God... or the Fates... or even the bloody Goblin King seemed to be trying to rub her fairy-assaulted nose in it.
They were definitely making good time. So good, in fact, Sarah began to wonder how long it would be before they solved the puzzle and if she would be fortunate enough to run into any of her old friends before she had to go home. Probably not. Or if I did, Sarah huffed to herself as she kicked at a small rock in the path, they wouldn't remember me either.
"Bingo!" Dee shouted triumphantly as she pointed to the forest ahead. "Look. Didn't you say before that when we hit the forest, we'd be half way there?"
"Yeah, if it's as if I remember..." Sarah spit out, her pretty mouth twisted cynically as she looked towards the approaching darkness.
Completely oblivious to the biting tone, Dee continued her quick-paced steps. "I really do hope it's how you remember it. But ya haven't exactly been batting .1000 today, have you?" A disconcerting thought suddenly hit the young mother, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.
"Sarah," she started uneasily, her eyes hooded with concern, "You read that book a lot when you were a kid, huh? All the time?"
"Come on, Dee. Remember? Only thirteen hours?" Sarah rejoined impatiently as she sidled past and kept walking.
"No, no. Wait. I'm serious!" Dee protested, shoving the orange straggles of hair from her eyes as she jogged to keep up. "Just like hold up!" Whimpering helplessly as Sarah ignored her, Dee collapsed heavily against the scratchy bark of a nearby tree and waited for her friend to realise she was no longer following.
"Crying isn't going to get you Chloe back," Sarah scolded coldly as she turned back to face the weeping girl.
Dee shook her head slowly as she looked towards the older girl, who stood no more than ten feet in front of her but seemed so far away. Slim arms were folded defiantly across her chest as Sarah waited in the middle of the path, far from the shelter of the walls and trees. Never had Dee seen anyone who looked so angry or so heartbreakingly alone.
"What the hell has gotten into you, Sare? Why are you so pissed off?" Dee asked, a small tremor choking her voice as the tears flew freely down her smudged face.
The girl exhaled sharply, her eyes rolling to the heavens as she no longer bothered to hide her impatience. "I'm *trying* to help you get your daughter back. But I can't help you if you insist on taking a damn crying break every 15 minutes."
"That's not fair. That's just not cool," Dee grumbled angrily as she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "I'm doing my best."
"Well, you know what? That's just not good enough."
She slammed her scratched hands against the cool bark of the tree, seeming to draw strength from the pain that her breaking nails inflicted. With an ironic grunt she looked down at her ruined manicure and shrugged her shoulders. It didn't seem to matter so much anymore. Dee closed her eyes for a moment, steeling herself before she turned her gaze to Sarah.
"I messed up, Sarah. Fucked up big time," Dee chuckled harshly as she pushed herself away from the tree. "Chloe is *my* daughter. And I was the one who banished her here. God, in a place I had no freaking clue really existed just..." she looked down to her wrist and smiled ironically as she noticed her watch wasn't working. Figures. "... well, yesterday. And yet? that's not a really great fucking excuse."
"Cursing like that isn't getting us closer to that castle."
Dee groaned in angry exasperation as she started stalking towards the castle. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck! See. I'm closer, okay? Get off my back!"
"I will the moment you stop acting like a two year old," Sarah rejoined nastily as she started to follow Dee's angry steps.
"What the hell gives you the right to act like this, Sarah? This is none of your fucking business anyway," she nearly screamed as she whirled around.
"It has to be someone's business. You have been too busy crying to get anything done on your own!" Sarah shouted back, her fists clenched tightly to her side as she barely restrained herself from stamping her foot. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With her exhale, she began to speak again, her voice soft but firm. "I'm your friend, Dolores. I've been through this before. I just want to help."
"Help me? You aren't helping at all!" Dee snapped, her face bright red as she continued marching on. "Fuck that! I think *you* are the one who needs help. Shit! You've read that fucking book so fucking much that you actually think you've fucking been here!"
Sarah's breathing accelerated as she stopped dead in her tracks. How dare she...
"Get a fucking clue, Sarah. You've not only been wrong about every fucking thing, but that bastard didn't even remember you either. So tell me. If you had really been here, would that really have happened?" Dee smirked cruelly as she pushed her way through the outskirts of the forest.
Sarah stood there, her face like pale stone as she watched the retreating back of her friend. Dee's normally soft voice had echoed those unspeakable thoughts that had been playing havoc with her head since they arrived here. Now her heart hurt so much that it felt as though it would implode, leaving her with nothing but ashes in its stead. Crazy. This really is crazy, she admitted to herself as she quietly looked around her. I'm crazy. Am I crazy? Sarah sniffled as she looked to the sky. Her eyes felt dry and itchy, but the tears wouldn't come to relieve the discomfort.
"Come on, feet," she whispered as she urged herself on as a disconnected part of her realised she could no longer see Dee. There's work to do.
Jareth grinned ferally as he watched the girls through the viewing crystal. In the matter of three hours, there had been a marked change in both of the girls. Dolores was beginning to follow her own instincts and this Sarah was learning to stop believing she knew the answer to everything.
He suddenly laughed as Sarah pushed out her chin determinedly as she gazed over the forest. "Such attitude!" he murmured as he traced a gloved finger over the crystal's surprisingly warm mass. "Your ego is bruised, you are now doubting your very sanity, and yet, you refuse to give up. I'm not sure why you are here, my dear. But this is the most amusement I've had in years. Oh, Sarah, if only I had a little more time to play with you..."
Still chuckling, Jareth dismissed the crystal with a flick of his wrist, watching as it just seemed to meld with the air. He glanced down at the sweet child sleeping in a small, wicker basket next to him only to notice the spotless white lace of his ruffled silk shirt. He frowned.
"Liberace. Bah. He doesn't have this much *style*," Jareth complained indignantly as he pushed himself up off his throne, his eyebrows knitted together disgruntedly.
"Narble!" Jareth sneered as he pointed to a nearby goblin. "Take care of this child until I return..."
"Uh. okay, majesty..." Narble responded, exchanging a knowing look with his fellow goblins. They managed a unison groan as their King strode from his throne room, his hands already unfastening his cloak with remarkable haste.
"But he just put those clothes *on*!" one of the more junior goblins whined as they all realised *someone* would be forced to clean those articles and it wouldn't be Jareth.
Narble, his position raised by the King's charge, rolled his eyes at the goblin's protest. "You don't be dumb, Gleb. It's a King thing. Don't you know nuthin'?"
"Whatcha mean, Narble?"
"It's ..." the goblin paused for a moment as his mind rapidly (well, as rapidly as a goblin mind can work) searched for an appropriate title, "...Baby-Taker-Carer-Ofer Narble to *you*!"
The junior goblin nodded solemnly. "Okay, Narble..."
Slapping his forehead, he muttered "What does I do to get such dummy sub... sub...submarines!" Narble complained, his scratchy voice a little more whiney than usual as his head was a bit sore from the impromptu smack.
"Uh... I don't know," another goblin answered, frowning as he considered the question. "What does you do?"
"Don't be stupids, dummy. Just stand there and look pretty, okay? Me got a big job to do," Narble's scrawny chest puffed out with buoyant self-importance.
Gleb nodded as he peeked into the basket. "What is it?"
Narble rolled his eyes impatiently. "You do know nuthin'? It's a baby! That's why me the Baby-Carer-Ofer-Taker!"
Several other goblins followed Gleb's lead and peeked into the basket.
"Ew!"
"It stinky!"
"And me thought me Ma was ugly."
"EW!"
Narble listened quietly, nodding in sage agreement with each judgement. "Babies are mean, mean ugly things. That why so important job, you know."
The other goblins, entranced by the Baby-Taker-Carer-Ofer's wise words, began to gather around him in an awed silence.
Narble grinned, his pointy, yellowed teeth reflecting in the light. "C'mon! You sit and shut up, and me tell you about these ugly baby thingees...." Narble promised, his voice resonating through the room with distinct pride.
The small figures leaned forward as they listened.