Due to an error of maths on my part, I am going to revoke the '8' in every
time it is referred to as '8 Years Passed' to '18 Years Passed'. Everyone
who has commented on Toby's apparent age is absolutely right, I am wrong,
and I apologise. Thanks for bearing with me here. Sarah is aged 34 and Toby
is 21. That should solve everything right up. I will keep to 18 years from
now on.
~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~~*~*~~*~
Although time had passed since Toby's declaration of Jareth's intentions towards her, Sarah was still attempting to find a sense of equilibrium. Initially, she had tried to deny it, convince herself as well as her brother that what he had said was plainly wrong. However, Toby's continually solemn face and the way that he slowly shook his head had eventually thrown that theory to a low level of hell that it was going to be impossible to get back.
Would it be so bad, she found herself asking herself. In essence, she was being told that some guy, and not a bad looking guy at that, was quite interested in her. Insanely so, really. And there was the problem. He was insane. He had to be!
Sarah's eyes refocused to realizing that Toby was staring at her in worry. Resolutely, she stood up, trying to hide the shaking in her legs and snuck a glace over towards the window. No owl. They were on their own without Jareth's interference for the time being at least. Foolish not to take advantage of it.
"Come on," she said, moving past and grabbing Toby's hand in hers. "We're going to find our own way out of here."
"Sarah, are you okay?" Toby asked, worried at the unusually swift strides that Sarah was taking.
"I will be," she muttered grimly. "As soon as we get out of this place."
"But. . ." Toby paused in his speech, if not his movement, trying to think of a good way that Sarah was going to be able to take in this mood, to say what was utmost on his mind. "Isn't Jareth likely to try to stop you? Or if not directly stop you, try to put you through some of the trials that you had to get through last time before he let you get back?"
In front of them, Sarah had sited a door that was the right way around to the floor that she and Toby were walking on. She wasn't really listening to what her little brother was saying right then, thinking instead that if she wished it enough, this would be the door that would lead them bam-smack straight into the safety of her apartment again. Cause that was the way things worked in this place, wasn't it?
It had to be!
"Sarah-"
Her brother's voice was cut off at the same time as she opened the door. Only then did Sarah begin to realize what this meant, but not before she looked around at where she found herself.
*
Toby looked down to his now empty hand that was no longer being tugged along after his older sister. Not that he couldn't keep up with her or anything, but. . . he had tried to keep her from rushing off as without thought as she had ended up rushing off. The instant that she had opened that door and stepped her first foot through its threshold, Toby had begun to lose sight of her in the haziness that she had disappeared into.
At the end of it, there door had appeared as it had been before she had touched it, only now he had to look up to see it as it was attached to the 'floor' above his head. It hadn't even closed as any normal door should do. Instead, it had just appeared there again, closed and above his head. Now just how was he supposed to follow in after her now?
Thoroughly agitated, and having no idea of what to do now, Toby gritted his teeth and gazed around him for another upright door. Finally, his eyes rested again on the upside down door, wondering what on earth Sarah expected him to do now that she had separated them in this place?
*
"Well, you've separated them now. Which one of them are you going to go to first?" Karlyn questioned, looking over his shoulder and into the crystal ball that he held nimbly between gloved fingers.
"I did not separate them," Jareth replied, vanishing the ball with just a twist of his fingers. He stood up haughtily. "I did not make her walk through that door. It was a decision that she made all on her own."
"Ah yes, but the fact remains, they are both very much alone now. And in great need of comfort, I dare say," Karlyn said sneakily, not moving from her position on the edge of the chair, even though Jareth had left.
He smirked, looking off into the distance.
"I dare say that she would not welcome any comfort I had to give her," he murmured.
"I guess then that you shall have to make her," said Karlyn. "That is, if you are as serious about all of this as you have been saying ever since she defeated your Labyrinth."
Jareth spun around, his eyes flashing.
"She did not defeat the Labyrinth," he told her through tightly gritted teeth. "Would it have made a very good impression on her had I let it take her and swallow her whole, I wonder?"
"Seems to me that you didn't make a very good impression on her either way," Karlyn quipped.
"Oh, I made an impression alright. I only have to make her realize it. I have all the time in the world. And," he faced her squarely, "I shall manage it without any force whatsoever."
"Oh, dear brother, what do you have up your sleeve, I wonder," Karlyn smirked, but he'd already vanished like his crystal ball.
*
~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~~*~*~~*~
Although time had passed since Toby's declaration of Jareth's intentions towards her, Sarah was still attempting to find a sense of equilibrium. Initially, she had tried to deny it, convince herself as well as her brother that what he had said was plainly wrong. However, Toby's continually solemn face and the way that he slowly shook his head had eventually thrown that theory to a low level of hell that it was going to be impossible to get back.
Would it be so bad, she found herself asking herself. In essence, she was being told that some guy, and not a bad looking guy at that, was quite interested in her. Insanely so, really. And there was the problem. He was insane. He had to be!
Sarah's eyes refocused to realizing that Toby was staring at her in worry. Resolutely, she stood up, trying to hide the shaking in her legs and snuck a glace over towards the window. No owl. They were on their own without Jareth's interference for the time being at least. Foolish not to take advantage of it.
"Come on," she said, moving past and grabbing Toby's hand in hers. "We're going to find our own way out of here."
"Sarah, are you okay?" Toby asked, worried at the unusually swift strides that Sarah was taking.
"I will be," she muttered grimly. "As soon as we get out of this place."
"But. . ." Toby paused in his speech, if not his movement, trying to think of a good way that Sarah was going to be able to take in this mood, to say what was utmost on his mind. "Isn't Jareth likely to try to stop you? Or if not directly stop you, try to put you through some of the trials that you had to get through last time before he let you get back?"
In front of them, Sarah had sited a door that was the right way around to the floor that she and Toby were walking on. She wasn't really listening to what her little brother was saying right then, thinking instead that if she wished it enough, this would be the door that would lead them bam-smack straight into the safety of her apartment again. Cause that was the way things worked in this place, wasn't it?
It had to be!
"Sarah-"
Her brother's voice was cut off at the same time as she opened the door. Only then did Sarah begin to realize what this meant, but not before she looked around at where she found herself.
*
Toby looked down to his now empty hand that was no longer being tugged along after his older sister. Not that he couldn't keep up with her or anything, but. . . he had tried to keep her from rushing off as without thought as she had ended up rushing off. The instant that she had opened that door and stepped her first foot through its threshold, Toby had begun to lose sight of her in the haziness that she had disappeared into.
At the end of it, there door had appeared as it had been before she had touched it, only now he had to look up to see it as it was attached to the 'floor' above his head. It hadn't even closed as any normal door should do. Instead, it had just appeared there again, closed and above his head. Now just how was he supposed to follow in after her now?
Thoroughly agitated, and having no idea of what to do now, Toby gritted his teeth and gazed around him for another upright door. Finally, his eyes rested again on the upside down door, wondering what on earth Sarah expected him to do now that she had separated them in this place?
*
"Well, you've separated them now. Which one of them are you going to go to first?" Karlyn questioned, looking over his shoulder and into the crystal ball that he held nimbly between gloved fingers.
"I did not separate them," Jareth replied, vanishing the ball with just a twist of his fingers. He stood up haughtily. "I did not make her walk through that door. It was a decision that she made all on her own."
"Ah yes, but the fact remains, they are both very much alone now. And in great need of comfort, I dare say," Karlyn said sneakily, not moving from her position on the edge of the chair, even though Jareth had left.
He smirked, looking off into the distance.
"I dare say that she would not welcome any comfort I had to give her," he murmured.
"I guess then that you shall have to make her," said Karlyn. "That is, if you are as serious about all of this as you have been saying ever since she defeated your Labyrinth."
Jareth spun around, his eyes flashing.
"She did not defeat the Labyrinth," he told her through tightly gritted teeth. "Would it have made a very good impression on her had I let it take her and swallow her whole, I wonder?"
"Seems to me that you didn't make a very good impression on her either way," Karlyn quipped.
"Oh, I made an impression alright. I only have to make her realize it. I have all the time in the world. And," he faced her squarely, "I shall manage it without any force whatsoever."
"Oh, dear brother, what do you have up your sleeve, I wonder," Karlyn smirked, but he'd already vanished like his crystal ball.
*