AN: First off, this is the darkest chapter so far... I'm really trying to combine
drama and humor so, welcome drama. =) And yes, I updated very quickly because I was
uch a bum about posting new stuff for so long.
Also, THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed! I've been writing fanfiction for
years with different styles and subjects and, well, ya'll are my favorite readers
by far. Everyone is so wonderful about sending feedback (positive, negative,
suggestions, praise, criticism)... Its wonderful to be able to feel like you're
growing as a writer. So, thank you, thank you , thank you all for making me want to
revisit the world of Labyrinth fanfiction time and time again. As always, its
truly a pleasure...
************************** Take Me Away: Chapter Five *************************
When he returned, like she knew he would, Sarah was sitting in the window seat of the
room. She would have been mad if she knew how vulnerable she looked, with her long legs
curled under her as she contemplated the Goblin City in pajamas from Aboveground.
Jareth regarded her from behind, crop twirling through his hand in a lazy arc as he
studied the problem that was Sarah Williams. The question had become more than the
simple 'why was she here' and had evolved into the more intriguing 'what in the Bog was
he going to do with her?'
A part of him always softened under the inquisitive stare of the wounded gaze of the
woman who had been so much to him through the years. A part of him was always
fascinated, intrigued, and more often, frustrated by the puzzles she never failed
to present him with.
A larger part of him wanted to squash her. Wanted her, to rule and control, to
manipulate and destroy. He was the Goblin King. For every tender thought, there was an
accompanying smirk and cruel streak.
His kindness did not come free of pain and his vulnerability was edged with blades.
"It looks different than last time I was here."
He twitched in surprise and she turned her head partially to smile shallowly before
retuning her dark gaze to the city he ruled. He walked so that he was standing directly
behind her before he let his cold gaze settle upon the well tended buildings that were
his domain.
"This is the Labyrinth stripped of pretense and illusion. Everyone who walks the maze
brings their own perceptions and ideas with them. The Labyrinth shapes itself to their
fancies, and nightmares, as it sees fit."
Sarah laughed hollowly. "Its prettier now. I didn't do it justice."
He said nothing but waited for her to continue. He did not understand Sarah but he knew
her better than most. He knew her better than she knew herself. Thirteen hours was long
enough to know anyone when worlds and souls laid in the balance.
"Do people often wish their children away?"
Jareth snorted elegantly. "More often than one would think. Some read the words, some
dream them, but if they truly desire it, then the magic calls me and I come to dispense
justice."
"Yes, you would be good at that wouldn't you?"
"How so Sarah?"
She looked up and caught his hooded stare boldly with her own grimly smiling eyes.
"Because justice doesn't have to be kind. It can be cruel. It can be anything it has to
be, as long as it does what it needs to do. Ironic isn't it? You were the first one to
teach me that justice only lies in fairy tales. You brought me to a fairy tale to
dispense justice."
"I toyed with you," he remarked mildly.
She shrugged her thin shoulders indifferently. "You were only the first. You showed me
the real world. It simply took magic to do so." Sarah sighed. "Do many win back the
children they wish away?"
"You were the first." The Goblin King's reply was stiff and frigid.
Silence fell between them and he exercised his last bit of patience. His answers would
come if he let them.
"What becomes of the children?"
He chuckled richly, amused by the question. "I raise them. I teach them, as I taught
you, about life. Some remain, some wander, some return to the world that found them so
lacking and try to live normal lives. I grant them a better lot than they would have
received otherwise."
Sarah turned to face him again and his laughter died on his smirking lips. There was a
shadow of pain, of anguish, that made the girl before him a woman, and a stranger. "I
want to see them."
Jareth started to deny her, but changed his mind abruptly as he reached out and grasped
one bare hand with his gloved one. They melted like snow as he called his magic
to him.
*************************************************************************************
He brought them to the nursery.
Jareth left his newest acquisition at the wooden doorway as he entered the room with a
smile. Goblin nurses nodded deferentially at him and continued their duties of feedings
and diapering and playing.
He walked with measured treads past the cradles, pausing at each one to greet his favorite
subjects, to hold small waving fists and stroke fine dark hair. The Goblin King soothed
cries and coaxed laughs. Only when he was content with his appraisal did he glance back
at Sarah.
The longing on her face was tangible and painful to see, even for him.
She walked slowly into the room, pausing as he had to look into each cradle and cherish
each infant's face. When she reached his side her fingers drifted down to touch the soft
cheek of the little boy sleeping by him.
She was smiling but tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Tell me why you're here Sarah. Tell me why you wished yourself away."
She looked steadily at him as her fingers curled into a fist and returned to her side,
leaving the infant to his sleep. There was none of her cockiness, or laughter, or bravery
now, simply the defiant child he had guided to painful adulthood who had stood before him
decades before.
"I always swore I wouldn't become a statistic." She paused, gathered herself and
continued, speaking less to him and more for herself, "Did you know that it's possible
to love someone even when they hit you?"
Pity rose thick like bile in the back of the his throat. Not because of the pain she had
suffered, because pain was a part of life, but for her to suffer as she did; it was not
befitting the woman who had defeated the Labyrinth and offered the Goblin King tea.
"I… I left. I couldn't stay. Nothing was harder, except denying you."
She took a deep breath and when she continued her hands trembled noticeably. "I was
pregnant. I… I lost the baby recently because of natural complications." The last phrase
was spat out with the contempt of a mourning mother.
Jareth reached up and touched Sarah William's chin. "So you wished yourself away to the
place where lost children go."
She reached up and brought his hand down, away from her face and the intimate closeness
it fostered, even with the brevity of his touch. "You offered me my dreams once Jareth,
this is the only one I have left."
He nodded fiercely once, and stepped away, unnerved again by her tears. "I'll return in
a short while. We will discuss this more after you have composed yourself."
And he left her among the children he cherished. Because she understood him better than
he understood himself as well. She deserved a little kindness though, even from him, she
had more than paid his price of pain.
So Sarah spent the afternoon among children in a realm that many thought was mere make
believe. She still didn't know if she had made the right choice but she had made the
only one she knew. Time would tell, as it did all things; she smiled and helped the
goblin nurses and tried not to think about what her child would have looked like if it
had lived.
drama and humor so, welcome drama. =) And yes, I updated very quickly because I was
uch a bum about posting new stuff for so long.
Also, THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed! I've been writing fanfiction for
years with different styles and subjects and, well, ya'll are my favorite readers
by far. Everyone is so wonderful about sending feedback (positive, negative,
suggestions, praise, criticism)... Its wonderful to be able to feel like you're
growing as a writer. So, thank you, thank you , thank you all for making me want to
revisit the world of Labyrinth fanfiction time and time again. As always, its
truly a pleasure...
************************** Take Me Away: Chapter Five *************************
When he returned, like she knew he would, Sarah was sitting in the window seat of the
room. She would have been mad if she knew how vulnerable she looked, with her long legs
curled under her as she contemplated the Goblin City in pajamas from Aboveground.
Jareth regarded her from behind, crop twirling through his hand in a lazy arc as he
studied the problem that was Sarah Williams. The question had become more than the
simple 'why was she here' and had evolved into the more intriguing 'what in the Bog was
he going to do with her?'
A part of him always softened under the inquisitive stare of the wounded gaze of the
woman who had been so much to him through the years. A part of him was always
fascinated, intrigued, and more often, frustrated by the puzzles she never failed
to present him with.
A larger part of him wanted to squash her. Wanted her, to rule and control, to
manipulate and destroy. He was the Goblin King. For every tender thought, there was an
accompanying smirk and cruel streak.
His kindness did not come free of pain and his vulnerability was edged with blades.
"It looks different than last time I was here."
He twitched in surprise and she turned her head partially to smile shallowly before
retuning her dark gaze to the city he ruled. He walked so that he was standing directly
behind her before he let his cold gaze settle upon the well tended buildings that were
his domain.
"This is the Labyrinth stripped of pretense and illusion. Everyone who walks the maze
brings their own perceptions and ideas with them. The Labyrinth shapes itself to their
fancies, and nightmares, as it sees fit."
Sarah laughed hollowly. "Its prettier now. I didn't do it justice."
He said nothing but waited for her to continue. He did not understand Sarah but he knew
her better than most. He knew her better than she knew herself. Thirteen hours was long
enough to know anyone when worlds and souls laid in the balance.
"Do people often wish their children away?"
Jareth snorted elegantly. "More often than one would think. Some read the words, some
dream them, but if they truly desire it, then the magic calls me and I come to dispense
justice."
"Yes, you would be good at that wouldn't you?"
"How so Sarah?"
She looked up and caught his hooded stare boldly with her own grimly smiling eyes.
"Because justice doesn't have to be kind. It can be cruel. It can be anything it has to
be, as long as it does what it needs to do. Ironic isn't it? You were the first one to
teach me that justice only lies in fairy tales. You brought me to a fairy tale to
dispense justice."
"I toyed with you," he remarked mildly.
She shrugged her thin shoulders indifferently. "You were only the first. You showed me
the real world. It simply took magic to do so." Sarah sighed. "Do many win back the
children they wish away?"
"You were the first." The Goblin King's reply was stiff and frigid.
Silence fell between them and he exercised his last bit of patience. His answers would
come if he let them.
"What becomes of the children?"
He chuckled richly, amused by the question. "I raise them. I teach them, as I taught
you, about life. Some remain, some wander, some return to the world that found them so
lacking and try to live normal lives. I grant them a better lot than they would have
received otherwise."
Sarah turned to face him again and his laughter died on his smirking lips. There was a
shadow of pain, of anguish, that made the girl before him a woman, and a stranger. "I
want to see them."
Jareth started to deny her, but changed his mind abruptly as he reached out and grasped
one bare hand with his gloved one. They melted like snow as he called his magic
to him.
*************************************************************************************
He brought them to the nursery.
Jareth left his newest acquisition at the wooden doorway as he entered the room with a
smile. Goblin nurses nodded deferentially at him and continued their duties of feedings
and diapering and playing.
He walked with measured treads past the cradles, pausing at each one to greet his favorite
subjects, to hold small waving fists and stroke fine dark hair. The Goblin King soothed
cries and coaxed laughs. Only when he was content with his appraisal did he glance back
at Sarah.
The longing on her face was tangible and painful to see, even for him.
She walked slowly into the room, pausing as he had to look into each cradle and cherish
each infant's face. When she reached his side her fingers drifted down to touch the soft
cheek of the little boy sleeping by him.
She was smiling but tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Tell me why you're here Sarah. Tell me why you wished yourself away."
She looked steadily at him as her fingers curled into a fist and returned to her side,
leaving the infant to his sleep. There was none of her cockiness, or laughter, or bravery
now, simply the defiant child he had guided to painful adulthood who had stood before him
decades before.
"I always swore I wouldn't become a statistic." She paused, gathered herself and
continued, speaking less to him and more for herself, "Did you know that it's possible
to love someone even when they hit you?"
Pity rose thick like bile in the back of the his throat. Not because of the pain she had
suffered, because pain was a part of life, but for her to suffer as she did; it was not
befitting the woman who had defeated the Labyrinth and offered the Goblin King tea.
"I… I left. I couldn't stay. Nothing was harder, except denying you."
She took a deep breath and when she continued her hands trembled noticeably. "I was
pregnant. I… I lost the baby recently because of natural complications." The last phrase
was spat out with the contempt of a mourning mother.
Jareth reached up and touched Sarah William's chin. "So you wished yourself away to the
place where lost children go."
She reached up and brought his hand down, away from her face and the intimate closeness
it fostered, even with the brevity of his touch. "You offered me my dreams once Jareth,
this is the only one I have left."
He nodded fiercely once, and stepped away, unnerved again by her tears. "I'll return in
a short while. We will discuss this more after you have composed yourself."
And he left her among the children he cherished. Because she understood him better than
he understood himself as well. She deserved a little kindness though, even from him, she
had more than paid his price of pain.
So Sarah spent the afternoon among children in a realm that many thought was mere make
believe. She still didn't know if she had made the right choice but she had made the
only one she knew. Time would tell, as it did all things; she smiled and helped the
goblin nurses and tried not to think about what her child would have looked like if it
had lived.