Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes

Three: Choice

Bury my lovely/Bury the lies/Bury me under/A thousand goodbyes//A shadow from another time/Is waiting in the night/Something happened long ago/Something that will not let go//Bury my lovely/Hide in your room/Bury my lovely/Forget me soon/Forget me/Forget me now/Forget me not

"Urgh," Toby groaned unenthusiastically, putting a hand to his forehead. "Everything's spinning. Am I still alive, or is hell migraines and nausea?"

"So Lazarus finally arises from the dead, given a chance for a new life. I wonder- will he take it, or does he prefer his tomb?" Jareth mused philosophically, stoically regarding Toby's futile attempts at clambering to his feet and final resignation to remain sitting.

"Even the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose," Sarah returned scornfully, causing Toby to snap his gaze onto her face, hardly startled.
"Sarah. What business could you possibly have here?" His tone had a slightly steely quality, but he directed the question to her almost disinterestedly. She could only absorb him with her eyes for a long moment, mouth open, lips moving silently, as she struggled to find her voice.

"Oh, Toby... so scared... I was so scared I'd come too late-" Tears slipped from her eyes, making tiny rivulets down her cheeks.

"You have." She recoiled, stung by his cruel words. His coldness reminded her of Jareth, and the similarity frightened her.

"Why do you hurt me like this? You're my brother, and I love you! What have I done to make you despise me so, Toby?"

"I don't hate you, Sarah, and that's what kills. But my love is poison- my love ruins everything... Don't deny it. Look at our family, Sarah. Have you taken a good look lately? Or have you been too busy trying to run from it with your celebrity status and career- reality was always too painful, wasn't it? Well, I couldn't run, and there is no family. It's destroyed, and it's all because of me. I was never what they wanted me to be; all their arguments were over me. When things got worse- I could have stopped it, but I didn't. But it even goes back before that- that's why he's here. I ruined your life even then, and that's what started it all. His hand has been on my life ever since, and he is dark, so I never stood a chance at being light like everyone wanted. In fact, after the Labyrinth, I've always preferred the dark." He smiled cynically, quelling her before she began with a gesture.

"Ah, but I digress. None of that matters now. It was fated to end up this way. I see that, and I also realize that deep down, I'm incapable of changing who I am or how I've been molded, and that's why the only thing for me to do is leave so no one else will be damaged or endangered. I've hurt enough people already. But you..." He turned slowly to Jareth, who had been calmly observing Toby's epiphanies with the corner of his mouth upturned just the slightest bit. "This is all one big mind-fuck to you, isn't it?" He asked sadly. "My life yours, to do with as you see fit... I've never been my own. It's thanks to you that I've never fit in- you manipulated me into trying to kill myself! You even put your damn signature on me, for crying out loud..." He angrily pointed to his eyes, falling into silence as Jareth traced gloved fingers along the contours of his face, ending by trailing his index finger across his lips in a slow, deliberate movement.

"So passionate...yet so wrong. You accuse me of omnipotence, forgetting to take into account your own free will, which, by the way, you had all along. I will not deny my influence on your life, nor my lack of what you term 'light'. But you, as so many others before you, blur the distinction between darkness and despair, darkness and pain. I become excruciatingly tired of so-called 'goth' teenagers and their morbid obsession with death. I never encouraged your masochism- in fact, I saved you from yourself without your knowing on too many occasions to recall. Do you have a destiny? Yes. However, your decisions affect whether or not you ever find that destiny. Most mortals spend their entire lives trying to find it, but I offer yours to you. All you need do is accept."

"Don't listen to him, Toby!" Sarah pleaded. "I don't want to lose you!" He saw the sincerity in his step-sister's eyes and the love she offered- a love he'd never seen in her before. He left it in her eyes. Some things were too pure to mar with his touch.

"I should hate you. But I can't, because I'm exactly like you. You've seen to that. I am your revenge on her...and I feel absolutely nothing. Not betrayed, not angry, not resigned, not even empty...just numb."

"That is your first lesson," the Goblin King said softly, regarding the boy with faint approval. "You are learning to embrace the darkness inside yourself, rather than allow it to consume you as you did previously. I can teach you how to harness the power you possess- to create, shape, mold and change with it. Oh, yes, you have magic- never doubt that. How do you think your creative genius is unparalleled for one so young, that when you play music you create with your melodies? How about your ability to stand out or blend in from the crowd? You long for magic with every fiber of your being, so much that your reality is made wretched for its absence. You hurt, you hate, you are full of anger: anger at yourself, anger at your parents, anger at the world. I know you are bitter and jaded about this world. You became a loner because you craved something better, something more. It was the call of magic raging in your blood. Your place has never been among mortals, Tobias. You were meant for more. Do you want an end to your pain? Do you want to stop hurting the ones you love? There is power and greatness beyond your wildest dreams, and it is yours for the taking, if you will only let me show you how to make it yours. The Dark Court recognizes talent such as yours, Tobias... you need not fight yourself any longer." His rich voice held no sardonic edge for a change. Mere inches away from Jareth's body, Toby felt the heat of the other radiating against him, and found silent tears escaping him against his will.

"You were always in my dreams, you know. No fairy tale candy-dreams for me- no, nothing so innocent or sweet. It was always you."

"You can say no, Toby," Sarah whispered, her eyes shining with moisture. "You can come back to me- back to a life with a sister who loves you. I promise to make your pain up to you somehow..." Jareth watched Toby's inner turmoil reflected in the turbulence of shifting colors in his eyes. First they were blue, then mismatched, then blue again... Toby caught on to the penetrating gaze focused on him, and with one fluid movement reached up, took his glasses from his namesake's head and repositioned them over his eyes, effectively hiding whatever decision he'd come to. He spoke soothingly to Sarah.

"You're absolutely right, of course. I only have a month until graduation, and education is everything. Surely all this can wait that long. Why don't you go down and get the car started? I'll pack my things, bid the Goblin King goodbye, and stay with you at your hotel tonight. We can catch up on everything then." Toby smiled reassuringly as she climbed back out the window, keeping it plastered on his face until she was gone. He cast a glance back at Jareth.

"Very well. This will not be the last time we meet. I will seek you out again in a month's time, and if you keep my gift, we may remain in contact still." The boy merely indicated a bulge in his pocket with his finger.

"I get it now. The importance of the color of my eyes is that they reflect who I am." He lifted his sunglasses up. "So you don't forget who it is you're coming for," he explained, smirking at Jareth as the latter changed into his snowy owl form in a puff of glitter and smoke. He watched from the window with a curious, unreadable expression on his face as the owl flew away and vanished from sight.