AN: Alright, here is the fourth chapter! I hope you like it! Thanks for the reviews! They really got me to hurry to start on the fifth chapter!
Also, warning: cheesey... I'm not too good with things like this. It sounded better in my head. This is one of the chapters that made me want to post a higher rating, just cause there's some angst. I dunno, I don't think it's too damaging... ^_~
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it... or much else for that matter...
Chapter Four: Connections
Jareth paced the dining room. He wasn't nervous, just a little anxious. Usually she didn't take this long to get ready.
Suddenly his head shot up.
Jareth!
He'd heard it, in his head, and he knew it was Sarah. She sounded panicked, frightened. He immediately went to her room and found it empty.
What? Where is she? he thought to himself, searching the palace for her presence, which had become so familiar to him over the past several days.
Nothing. Not in the palace, not outside, and not in the Labyrinth as far as he could tell. Where could she be? He asked silently, angry. Someone had come, he could feel it; the air didn't feel right. He thought hard, trying to calm himself down. Who could have had the power to do this? Whoever it was got into my territory and even into my own palace without my immediate notice! Who- His thought was cut short as Jemima burst into the room, panting as if she'd been running.
"Jareth," she gasped. "What happened? I felt something, but I thought it was..." She took a deep breath and looked around. "Where is Sarah?"
"She has been taken," Jareth replied quietly, looking out the window into the night.
Jemima frowned. "Taken by whom?"
Jareth's temper rose and he spun to face her. "If I knew, do you think I would waste my time here?"
Jemima didn't pay too much attention, but did take a step back and looked down, thoughtful. "I thought..." she started quietly."I thought I felt..." She was thinking hard. "I know that presence."
"Who?" asked Jareth. Jemima didn't hear him. He put his hands on her shoulders and felt that she was trembling lightly. "Who?" he repeated. "If it was-"
"Xavier." Jemima finished in a whisper.
Sarah got up and walked around. She was starting to get sore from sitting and it was cold. She found a small pile of straw in one of the corners and went to lie down there.
Maybe it will be a little warmer than the floor. She hoped so. She didn't like to think about it, but she was scared. How will I ever get out of here?
Suddenly, a light shone as it had in her bedroom. Sarah was blinded after being in the dark, but she could hear footsteps coming closer to her. Then she heard an amused chuckle. The light dimmed to something more bearable to her eyes. It seemed to be emanating from an object in his hand.
"Well, well," Xavier's voice sounded through the room. "This is going quite nicely, don't you think? By this time our Goblin King must be worried sick and trying to figure out what to do. If he has even figured out that I was the one who took you."
He kneeled down beside her, an evil-looking smirk on his dark face. Sarah began to tremble, and it wasn't all because of the cold.
"Lady Sarah. I can see why the Goblin King took you, you are a pretty thing. Maybe I'll keep you for myself," he said. The wicked gleam in his eyes made Sarah shudder. He bent down and kissed her, hard. It scared her, and she instinctively pushed him away. He smacked her, and grinned. "That should teach you." And with that, he turned and walked out. The door somehow unlocked, opened, and locked again behind him.
Sarah put her hand to her stinging cheek and started to cry softly wishing for someone to help her. Eventually she fell into a restless sleep. In her fitful dreams, Xavier's image and words haunted her.
Jareth paced his throne room back and forth. He had to save Sarah, as soon as possible. Her exact wasn't the problem, he knew very well the places Xavier would lock her up in The problem was the 'how'. He sighed, exasperated.
"You are going to save her, aren't you?" Jemima asked quietly as she gazed out the window over the Labyrinth. The land must have been in tune with Jareth's feelings, it suddenly didn't seem magical, but gloomy, and storm clouds had appeared overhead, blocking out the light of the approaching dawn.
Jareth stopped pacing, but ignored her question. "How will I get to her," he said, more to himself than the two female elves in the room. "We cannot fight him, not now. We have had no time to prepare."
Ada walked closer to him. "Why not just retrieve Sarah with your magic. The fighting can wait. No, you cannot fight him now, but with your power, you can get through his spells into the cells and bring Sarah back."
That was logical enough. "His defenses are strong. I may require help to get us both back here. If Sarah is conscious…" he trailed off. That may be enough. At this point, he didn't care very much; he just wanted Sarah back and safe. I have to go to her. All I must do is locate her cell.
He summoned up a crystal ball and looked into it. Xavier's spells would not let him see anything, but he would be able to sense where Sarah could be. Xavier tended to give himself away through over-confidence as well as sheer ignorance. Xavier had increased spells around a particular area of cells. Perhaps he didn't mean to be subtle, but intimidating. Jareth smirked. It won't work. The heavily guarded area is where he would find her.
He reached out his senses through the crystal towards the area the cry had come from. This was it, he could feel Sarah's presence, despite Xavier's poor efforts to hide her.
Sarah had no concept of time in that dark room. She felt as if she'd been here a long time, but she could never be sure. Since she had dozed, she was very confused. Did I sleep the night through? Or only for a few hours? Her cheek did not sting anymore where Xavier had hit her. She reached up and touched it and winced. Still tender.
She heard clinking of metal against metal and light shone in as the door opened once again. She shielded her eyes and squinted, trying to see who or what it was. Her eyes watered, unused to the light. Xavier's dark figure blocked the light and gray eyes glinted in the dimness.
"Get up," he commanded.
"Why?" she asked quietly, even as she obeyed.
A grin flashed across his face. "We are going for a walk around the cells."
If Sarah didn't know any better, she would think that Xavier was bored. Or trying to make a point. She followed him as he walked out the door into the dimly lit hall. She did not want to follow him, but run the opposite direction. It would never have worked she realized as two elfish guards carrying spears came up behind her. She sighed and continued following.
Every once in a while, Xavier would stop and take a look into the cells. At one of them, he turned to her with an evil smirk and gestured to her. "Take a look, Lady."
Did she have a choice? She looked, and gasped to see a skeleton chained to the wall. She covered her mouth with her trembling hand. Xavier just laughed menacingly.
They walked on in silence without stopping again.
Sarah thought she heard a horse's neigh and stopped to listen. It sounded distant. The cells shouldn't be anywhere near horse stables, should they?
A sharp jab between her shoulder blades shocked her out of her thoughts as one of the guards decided that she had stopped for long enough. She started walking again and looked up to see how far behind she had fallen. I didn't look too far; Xavier was ahead of her unlocking a door.
He turned to her with an evil grin and motioned her in.
She obeyed with reluctance. In the dank, dark of the cell, she could make out a large cage and something moving around violently within it. She caught some glimpses of white and realized that it was a horse. She took a step closer as the white mare stepped closer to the light the open door let in. Something glinted on its forehead. A horn! She wasn't just a horse, she was a unicorn!
Sarah was so awed that she stepped closer to the angry creature. It paused in its fuss to look at her and calmed down. It studied her, looked at her dirty white dress and could still see where her tears had fallen. The unicorn came closer to her, moving slowly.
Sarah stepped even closer so that she was in front of the beautiful fairy-tale creature. Sarah couldn't say how she knew that the unicorn was female, she just knew. She felt connected to her; they were both taken, locked up, dirty, and sad. She could see the unicorn's sadness reflected in the deep pools of its dark blue eyes.
They could not understand each other's talk, but they connected, and took comfort from the other. Neither of them should be there. Sarah reached out her hand and touched the mare's nose. Sarah wished now, more than anything, that she could help her, set her free. She should not be caged; she was too pure and innocent.
A sharp pain in her back made her wince and turn. The unicorn started neighing and rearing at the elfish guards. Xavier was still smirking as the guards led Sarah out. She looked back once more to see the unicorn watching her go and tears again filled her eyes and spilled over onto her cheeks.
On the way back to her cell, Xavier started talking. "I see you like my little surprise. I caught her. Imagine! To catch a unicorn! There are few of them, and people almost never see one in their whole lifetime! But for me to catch one, to own one! That is a rare feat!"
Sarah was silent, and ignored what he said. She did not want to hear him boast about locking up such a magical creature, a creature who deserved, who needed, to be free.
Back in the cell, Sarah leaned against the wall and slid down, weeping softly. Xavier smirked again. "What's this? Sad? Afraid?"
"No," Sarah said softly. "Please, I beg you, let her go. You can keep me here as long as you want." She remembered the skeleton and shuddered. "But please, let her go. I can't stand to see her caged. She needs to be free. She deserves as much," Sarah sobbed into her arms which were propped on her up-raised knees.
Xavier's smirk changed into an ugly frown and he bent down and took hold of her arm hard enough to bruise. "I will not tolerate such things. I will do what I wish when I wish, and that beast will remain here for all of time. As will you." With that he pushed her roughly into the corner and left her a dirty, sobbing heap on the floor.
Sarah was too tired to move, too tired to stop the tears that were flowing so freely down her cheeks. She rubbed her arm where he had grabbed, curled into a fetal position, and cried herself to sleep.
Jemima heard a flap and turned around to see, in Jareth's place, a barn owl. It flew past her, out the window and into the distance.
Stay here, I will return, Jareth's voice sounded in their heads.
"As long as you bring her back with you," Jemima whispered after him. She felt his mental acceptance of her statement before his presence disappeared all together.
Jareth circled high above Rose City in order not to be sensed by Xavier any longer than it took to get to Sarah and get them both out.
As soon as he'd sorted it all out in his head, the owl disappeared from the sky.
And re-appeared in a pitch black cell. Though dark, he could still see well enough to make out Sarah's figure lying in the corner of the small room.
He walked over and kneeled down beside her. He reached out impulsively to touch her tear-streaked cheek.
She woke instantly and screamed, but was immediately silenced by a hand covering her mouth. Thinking it was Xavier, she panicked. Her breath hitched in her throat and new tears filled her eyes.
Jareth realized then, though he could see her well enough, she could not see him. He held out his other hand and summoned a crystal ball that gave off a faint glow.
Sarah was relieved to see some light, and even more relieved to see that it was Jareth's hand over her mouth, not Xavier's. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself down and Jareth removed his hand. Gently, he wiped away the fresh tears that had fallen down her face, tracing more paths in the dirt and sorrow that had collected there.
"Jareth," she whispered as Jareth looked her over, not liking what he saw.
He helped her to stand. "Can you walk?"
Sarah nodded. She was a little shaky and stiff, but who wouldn't be? She was standing and that was a good first step. Jareth is here to rescue me. As long as we are leaving this place I can walk, run, swim, anything.
They took a few steps to the center of the cell and Jareth scooper her up in his arms.
"Sarah, I need you to listen quickly. You have magic. I need you to breath and relax and look inside yourself. I need you to open yourself up to me and trust me. You have to want to get back to the castle more than anything else right now. I don't have the power and energy to get us both out of here before he detects us without your help." His voice was quiet and fast.
"I want to be anywhere but here," she whispered.
"That will do. Now, breathe deep and relax."
Sarah did her best. Having him holding her so close and safe helped. She knew everything would be okay now. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply and relaxed.
She felt more than saw a flash of silver light and for an instant she felt dizzy, but Jareth's grip on her was firm and she focused on the feeling growing within her.
The two of them were suddenly gone in a flash of light.
They jostled to a stop and the light faded. Sarah opened her eyes to the familiar scene of her bedroom in the castle.
Jareth laid Sarah down on her bed and sat beside her. Sarah just looked at him for a while before the silence was broken.
"You came for me," she whispered as even more tears filled her eyes. She wasn't sure why, maybe tears of relief, or remembering how scared she'd been, or even how happy she was that he had come.
He didn't say anything, only ran his hand along the side of her face and carefully over her bruised cheek.
A tear spilled over then and Sarah looked away. She took a deep breath to get herself under control and swiped away the tear. "I must be a mess," she murmured, starting to sit up. Jareth gently laid his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back.
"But-"
Jareth waved his hand and Sarah found herself clean, as if she had just taken a bath, and in a fresh white nightgown. She relaxed against the pillows and looked up at Jareth with tired eyes.
"Jareth," Sarah started quietly.
"I will stay until you fall asleep, do not worry," he said, brushing his cool, gloved hand along her cheek again. She nodded and closed her eyes, thankful to feel safe again.
Sarah's breathing slowed down and Jareth stood to leave. He stopped when he heard a whisper from the bed behind him. He didn't turn to look back but smiled and walked out.
"Thank you, Jareth."
What do you think? Kinda odd. I think I was watching 'The Last Unicorn' when that idea came in. Oh well.
Oh, and I know I made Sarah cry a lot, gomen. I didn't really realize it was so much, 'cause I wrote this chapter over the period of about 3 months. Sad, isn't it? There won't be much of her crying for the rest of the story, I think.
Again, I'd like to thank those who reviewed on the last chapter. I love you all! (Well, the reviews anyway ^_^;)
BatBLady (Thanks! I hope you like the newest chapter!)
Lady Death (*laughing* I'm glad! Though, I guess I haven't cleared everything up yet, have I?)
Helin Lote (Wow! Glad I hooked someone! I think that's happened to me often! Yes, many 'damsel in distress' moments)
Lenora (Oh! This made me happy! I usually don't post fanfics I'm not going to finish, tho this may take a while. I hope you like this chapter and the following ones!)
Thank you all!
Chapter five coming soon, as soon as I finish it and make corrections, etc.
