Chapter 15: Mireia Further Underground

By Emer

"Pity you got the wish wrong"

They were immediately swept up in something. Mireia wasn't wasn't sure what, because she couldn't truly feel her body-that was, until a gloved hand closed around her wrist. Then they hung inside of something for an indeterminate period of time. She tried to think-about anything-tried to zero in on her wish and what Jareth had said about it, but she couldn't. Her brain wouldn't focus. It was like having something in her eye only worse.

The hand on her wrist tightened and Mireia realized they were no longer hanging, but falling. Her hair whipped straight up and her sweater tried to do the same. She shrugged it mostly off, except where Jareth was clasping her wrist, and said a small prayer of thanks that her shirt was tucked in. The globe she'd carried for what seemed like forever was gone. She supposed her wish had done that.

Just as she was starting to feel a bit sick, they landed rather abruptly on a hard dirt floor. Mireia didn't know if they'd been falling abnormally slow or if Jareth had done something to soften the landing but aside from what felt like a few bruises, she was perfectly al right. It took her a minute to get her wind back, though. When she could finally breath again, she tried sitting up. Beside her Jareth was stretched out, elegant even while unconscious. There was nothing to do then but look around.

They were in a wide circle of light, reaching to about twice her height. But beyond the light was complete darkness. It was like being on stage in the school play. The audience was completely hidden.

And in this case, she particularly hoped there wasn't one.

The air had a cold, stale, dirt-smell, which led Mireia to picture the space around them as an open cave. Every so often she felt a teasing wisp of air hardly enough to be called a breeze.

The next thing to do seemed to be to wander outside of the circle of light. There was nowhere else to go. On the other hand, she didn't want to go out in the dark to be gotten by who-knew-what. And she'd be leaving Jareth here, unconscious and unarmed. She looked at his face, handsome and relaxed, arms sprawled gracefully. How could she leave him here? She knelt beside him and watched his chest rise and fall gently.

"Jareth," she said. "Jareth, wake up." Tentatively, she put a hand out and grasped his shoulder through the spikes of his coat. She could feel warm muscle and hard bone under her hand. She shook him gently. There was no response. She shook him again, harder this time. He continued his slow, even breathing, not even stirring. With a quick glance around, she tried the only other thing she could think of. Swallowing down a sudden flash of nervousness, she leaned over him and lightly brushed his lips with her own.

"You won't wake him up that way," said a voice. Mireia jerked back so fast that she nearly hurt her neck. The voice was a deep rocky voice, sort of like how she'd imagined the false alarms, only less pompous. It crunched and rumbled. After her heart had gotten out of her throat, Mireia thought carefully about how she would respond. 'Who are you," seemed to lack something. She doubted the voice would spell it out for her anyway. Besides, she thought she might have an idea about who the voice could belong to, already.

"How can I wake him up?" she asked.

"You can't." There was a rumbling, which might have been a laugh.

"What can wake him up?" she asked.

"Oh, many things."

"Are any of those things that I can do?" After this question there was a long pause and Mireia feared she had asked the wrong question after all.

"Yes," said the voice at last. "There is one." Before Mireia could prompt it, she noticed that her circle of light had begun to dim. Trying to stamp down her panic, she stood up and stood over Jareth. Then, just before she gave way to panic, she realized that the light wasn't dimming-it was diffusing. It was spreading out into the space around then, faintly lighting the outlines of a large cave. Mireia swallowed hard when she saw the full extent of what lay around her. It was an underground Labyrinth. The dim light just picked out the high walls. She could see-just barely-more walls twisting off into the darkness. There were two ways to enter into it from the ring of stone that she and Jareth had fallen into. They were identical except that they led in opposite directions.

"If you can get to the heart of this Labyrinth, you will find something there that can wake him. Then you must find your way back to him."

"Will he be safe here while I'm gone?" Mireia asked.

"Of course," If gravel could be insulted, that was what it would sound like.

"Do I have a time limit?"

"None beyond your own endurance." This was a serious limit, Mireia knew. She'd been up well over eighteen hours by now and had had no food and not much water after she'd left the castle. Her nap at Sabina's hadn't really helped. It could scarcely be called a nap anyway. At least Jareth was getting some rest now.

She couldn't do anything else but go and find the way to wake Jareth. Even if she could have gotten out of here without Jareth-and she could have asked the voice different questions to that end-she couldn't just leave him here. He'd protected her through the Labyrinth. She'd never be able to live with herself, not to mention that she and Michael would have no way to get back.

She saw now that her magic had sent and she and Jareth to this place with her wish, and it had also probably made she and Michael's play more potent, which is what had gotten them here in the first place. Mireia had a feeling she wouldn't be allowed to cheat like that in this labyrinth. This was an old kind of Labyrinth. It was colder and more full of logic and death. Mistakes wouldn't lead to new friends here, but to nasty pits where she could starve to death.

"And If I fail?" Mireia asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"You will wander until your death, and Jareth will not wake."

"Why?"

"Why does the Earth turn and the sun give light?" an amused rumble rolled across Mireia. "This is the way it works. You may not intimately understand the Earth's path, but you accept that it is there. Accept this, too. Your task is a product of the place you are in. If this wasn't the way, there would be no Labyrinth as you know it."

Mireia had one last question and she wasn't entirely sure it was allowed, but she was definitely going to ask it anyway.

"Which way should I go to reach the heart?" There was a pregnant pause. Then, finally, the voice seemed to have decided to reply after all.

"Both could lead you there. Both have traps. But you might find an unexpected benefit to the left. And now I may not say anything else. Once outside of this circle, I cannot speak to you."

"Okay," said Mireia, taking a deep breath. "Thank you." And with a last look back at Jareth's peaceful, beautiful face, so bereft of its usual mocking expression, Mireia went into the Labyrinth.

Labyris: Yes, a cliff hanger. Sorry :) I seem to be good at them. My chapters naturally want to end there. This one is, too, sort of.

BloodIce: I wish you could have read it earlier, too. But look at it this way: you got a whole bunch of chapters to read at once. Yea! It's like Christmas! Okay, maybe not that dramatic. But now you can read it chapter by chapter until the end. And even I have no idea when that will be.

Arlena: This is the update to clarify that ending that so confused you. Except it doesnt' really clarify it yet. You'll have to wait for the big finish to find out. I'm glad you like my story. Thanks for reviewing!

SilverQuick: Heh. I'm here. And with a new chapter, no less. You'll be happy to know that my stories on fictionpress are shortly to follow. It makes me happy that you like the story. Because I like it to. I sort of set out to write a Labyrinth story that I'd want to read. There were too many "Sarah goes back and wins goblin king's heart etc, etc," and I got tired of them, and I think there's a lot more room for creativity in this fandom that no one takes advantage of.

Man who fell to earth is a VERY strange movie. But the naked Bowie scenes are worth it. And it's kind of heart-wrenching at a few parts. You realize that DB is coming to North America on tour, right? I keep nervously checking for when tickets go on sale, inspite of the fact that Bowienet is supposed to email me when it happens.

I'll be interested to read your non-J/S story when you get it together. I can't plot things or they turn out flat and boring. My stories rely on my not knowing what is going to happen next. And the good ones wind down exactly where they're supposed to, surprising me with their rightness.