Forgotten Magic – Chapter 3
Sarah glanced around the room, searching for her husband amongst the dancing figures. It was finally the night of the ball. Jareth had hardly had time to talk to her through the mists of organizing a ball such as this. She almost thought it was worth it as her eyes danced around the room, searching through the storms of twirling colours. She let herself place one of her feet forward with the beat of the music. The tips of her white high heels patted against the tiled floor. She span around for a moment, her dress twirled in rhythm. She did look rather elegant. Sarah's hair was placed into a beautiful brown bun, tendrils of auburn hair sprinkled down in different directions towards her shoulders. She wore a graceful ball-gown, the design was quite simple, but easily caught anyone's eye. It reached in a shape resembling a heart around her breasts and continued to flow to her hips in a triangular fashion. This was when her dress began its pelted silk materiel that reached to where her shoes poked out neatly. She had a gold-chain around her neck, that was given to her by Jareth about seven years ago and of course, she still wore the symbol of Jareth's love around her finger.
"So, there he is." She whispered, her eyes coming across her lover talking to another woman across the hall. She gave a small frown for a moment before letting herself glide gently across the dance floor to where her Jareth would be waiting.
"Jared should be around here somewhere." Jareth was speaking to the woman as Sarah interrupted.
"Jareth?" She questioned.
"Sarah! Meet Rosette, she has had her eye on Jared for quite some time now."
"Hello Rosette" Sarah replied, nodding her head politely.
"Evening Queen Sarah." Rosette replied. She had the most horrible voice that it nearly made Sarah cringe with fright. It seemed to be a cross between some sort of squeaking mouse and a horse.
"So, you are interested in my son?" Sarah asked, dropping her polite manner as she inspected the girl. The girl's eyes were a deep navy-blue, her lashes flicked delightfully as she spoke. A few freckles framed her face; the only thing that shattered her pleasant image was a rather large nose, which you could only describe as some type of hawk. Her figure was slight; she seemed well endowed under that red dress of hers. Sarah continued to peer at the dress. It seemed to wrap around Rosette's neck and flow down to her knees, it seemed quite tight— that was what Sarah was not very impressed with. She had pointy high-heeled shoes that matched the colour of her curly red hair. Sarah some-how felt that she could not trust this girl. Though she ensured herself, everything is not as it seems. Well, hopefully this was true in this case; otherwise she would not want a woman like this near her son.
"Yes, I was just asking the King where I might find him." Rosette questioned.
"I suppose he is over near the right-hand side as always. If you had been watching him as much as you say, you would have noticed he always keeps to the right side." Sarah replied, letting her eyes flicker to the side. She was trying to show Jareth that she did not approve of this.
"Oh, yes I did notice. I just could not see him standing near any of the walls as usual." Rosette said, smiling that most hideous smile of hers.
"He is probably dancing with Cushla." Sarah informed Rosette.
"Cushla?" Jareth questioned. Sarah shrugged this question off, it was obvious Jareth was ignoring Jared's companion as much as possible. Rosette's eyes slightly twitched as she heard this, but she tried to hide it in a smile.
"I'll try to find him, Ma'am." Rosette replied, curtseying to excuse herself before wandering off.
Sarah gave a glare towards Jareth, before looking away into the crowd as if she was trying to ignore him. She noted his outfit had changed. It seemed Jareth was wearing a rather large blue coat, which covered a cream shirt that flowed over some nicely pressed pants. His shirt was still open so that you could see parts of his chest and his usual necklace. Sarah would of smiled at his effort, if she wasn't still somewhat annoyed at him.
"Sarah..." Jareth began.
"Don't." Sarah interrupted, "Why did you have to interfere again, you know it's not fair on him. You said you were giving him a chance, now you have put an obstacle in his way. You haven't changed a bit in the 17 years I've known you, Jareth."
"Life isn't fair. If we expected everything to be fair all the time, we'd never be happy. If he really likes this girl of his, he won't be tempted by Rosette." Jareth explained.
"Who would? She has a nose like a hawk, she sounds like a rat and she reminds me of a carrot." Sarah said, quite immaturely.
"You have to understand..." Jareth tried to explain once again. Sarah just shaked her head as she walked over to him.
"I understand, I guess I'm just feeling like this resembles when I first came through the Labyrinth." Sarah reminded him.
"Look, just let me test him. After tonight, no more tricks." Jareth reassured her as he held out his hand to beckon her to dance with him.
"You expect me to believe the king of goblins has no more tricks up his sleeves?" Sarah smiled to herself as she said this, taking his hand.
Sarah and Jareth began to dance, step-by-step they moved there way around the hall. Sarah didn't notice that much, her eyes were too focused on Jareth's. It made her smile; she was reminded of when they first met.
"What are you smiling at?" Jareth questioned, though he was smiling himself.
"You, silly." Sarah replied.
~*~
"Come on." Jared seemed to be trying to convince Cushla to dance with himself. Though, she continued to shake her head as she had done for the last two hours. She was surprised he had not given up. He'd tried force, blackmail, pleading— none of it had worked.
"Nope." Cushla replied simply. Jared continued to admire her though. Sarah had seemed to helped Cushla out with one of her old ball gowns. Well, Sarah was the only one of his parents that ever took any notice of Cushla— he was surprised his father had even let her stay these past two weeks. He was also amazed that Cushla agreed to stay— he thought things must be quite bad back in the above grounds for her to actually agree to stay in such an unknown place. Though, this was not the point now, the point now was the Dress. Yes, the dress. Her shoulders were bare; the dress seemed to cut halfway across her breasts so that you could in fact see cleavage. Though, the thing that made this pale-blue dress decent was the fact that it reached down to her ankles in one line that curved delightfully in two places before it finally reaching its end. The thing that kept Jared in a trance was the sapphire necklace around her neck— it was the same colour as her eyes.
"One dance, just one." He continued, shaking his head away from the trance the necklace had put him in.
"You are never going to stop, are you? I can't stand another three hours of this..." Cushla sighed before she cut off her speech; her eyes were on the redheaded girl walking towards them. Cushla didn't like this; the girl's eyes were on Jared. It's not that Cushla had feelings for Jared; she just thought that this might be fun. "Of course I'll dance with you." She said, before almost hurrying to grab his hand.
"I don't trust you. You aren't nice, why have you changed just now?" Jared frowned as he led her onto the dance floor.
"You would of never stopped bugging me if I didn't." Cushla moaned as she began to dance with Jared. They seemed to be twirling quite a bit away from the girl, but it looked like she was still watching. Cushla smiled at the girl— she didn't like Jared, but she'd rather keep him to herself then some hawk. Wait a minute, hawk? Was Cushla thinking like Sarah?
"What a pity. I thought you liked me for a minute." Jared said sarcastically.
"You wish." Cushla said, looking around for the girl once more. She was getting closer. 'Damn, the hawk is coming. It's... it's... watching me like a... hawk!" Cushla thought to herself. Fine, it was time for the last resort. She inched herself closer to Jared and rested her head against his chest. She peeked at the girl, giggling as she saw her frown. Cushla meant no harm; she was just a bit of a trickster.
". . . What the heck? Heh, I guess I am to die for." Jared said, feeling quite proud of himself— he was too proud that he did not even realize the trickery on Cushla's part. He never thought when the time was right; he was one of those people who did not think before they act.
~*~
"One hour." Jareth mumbled. He was now holding Sarah in his arms. They seemed to be quite tired from their dancing. They were now rocking back and forward to the side, with only a few steps between each rock.
"You're still counting?" Sarah questioned, yawning slightly before leaning against Jareth.
"Of course, it would be no fun if I didn't." Jareth grinned.
"Ah ha, but you're losing. Rosette hasn't even touched Jared. While Cushla and Jared have been dancing all night." Sarah informed him.
"I said if they kissed, and they haven't. Cushla? That's her name is it? I'll remember it." Jareth assured her.
"She had been living in your castle for a few weeks now. I've talked to her, she is wearing my dress, you know? You should bother to take notice of her, you might find that you'd be surprised." Sarah said before adding something, "I'm still winning this time, Jareth"
"Not yet. Fifty minutes away now." Jareth said, "We won't miss anything. They are two metres away from us."
"Fifty minutes till I win. Like I've told you many times, it's a piece of cake." Sarah replied.
"And you have been wrong many times." Jareth counted. Sarah just rolled her eyes as always.
~*~ Cushla was quite comfortable where she was. Jared hadn't said anything, which was a blessing for her. It seemed that this was the only time in two weeks that he had stopped his sarcastic, up-himself remarks. It was amazing. If he kept this up, Cushla would actually stop getting headaches.
Bang! Cushla felt herself hit the ground. She opened one eye, squinting slightly. She didn't even see that coming, she must have tripped or something. That was a bit fast though, and it felt like something had pushed her. She held her head for a moment, the room finally stopped spinning within her eyes. She glanced around, looking up to see a flicker of red.
"I'm sooo sorry." Rosette said, trying to sound upset. Though it was obvious she was quite pleased with herself.
"Ouch." Cushla mumbled, standing herself up. She let her hands rub against her sore spots, which at the moment were in her back, thighs and one of her ankles. She looked up at the girl. 'So it was her, I thought it was. I didn't know she liked him that much. Maybe I should walk away or something.' Cushla thought to herself.
"Evening Prince Jared. It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Rosette Rougewart." The girl said, curtseying so low that Cushla thought she was about to do the limbo.
"Good Evening Rosette." Jared replied, "You left it a bit late for greetings, didn't you? There is only seven minutes left. Now, where did Cushla go?" Jared knew every well what happened, he was just trying to act smart.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I think I bumped into on the way here. I'm ever so sorry." Rosette replied, trying to sound sincere.
'Sure you are.' Cushla thought to herself.
"Jareth, did you see that?" Sarah whispered to her lover, "Rosette pushed Cushla over."
"Nothing bad when it comes to some friendly competition." Jareth replied, inching himself to the side. They were now only one metre apart from their son. Though, it seemed he had his hands to full to realize.
"Sorry for interrupting, but I'll be going to bed now, Jared." Cushla said, as she walked forward. Though, it seemed her fall before had lowered her dress slightly and she accidentally stood on it. Cushla felt herself suddenly begin to lose balance. She gasped, waving her arms around, she quickly grabbed onto Jared. Though, in this desperate seize for help, she had taken him down with her. She felt herself fall on top of him; she tried to place her hands on either side of herself to stop herself from completely impacting on Jared. Unfortunately, it was too late and she ended up falling face forward. She opened her eyes, to see herself staring into Jared's. She blinked for a moment; before she realized her lips were on his. This was not good. All that could distract her now was the gently chimes of the clock. It appear to have just hit midnight...
[I'll just leave you there ^^; I thought this chapter would be a lot longer, but it only ended up being longer by a bit! I'm glad that there is more Sarah/Jareth in this chapter; I hope you are all happy! Nice cliff- hanger here.]
Sarah glanced around the room, searching for her husband amongst the dancing figures. It was finally the night of the ball. Jareth had hardly had time to talk to her through the mists of organizing a ball such as this. She almost thought it was worth it as her eyes danced around the room, searching through the storms of twirling colours. She let herself place one of her feet forward with the beat of the music. The tips of her white high heels patted against the tiled floor. She span around for a moment, her dress twirled in rhythm. She did look rather elegant. Sarah's hair was placed into a beautiful brown bun, tendrils of auburn hair sprinkled down in different directions towards her shoulders. She wore a graceful ball-gown, the design was quite simple, but easily caught anyone's eye. It reached in a shape resembling a heart around her breasts and continued to flow to her hips in a triangular fashion. This was when her dress began its pelted silk materiel that reached to where her shoes poked out neatly. She had a gold-chain around her neck, that was given to her by Jareth about seven years ago and of course, she still wore the symbol of Jareth's love around her finger.
"So, there he is." She whispered, her eyes coming across her lover talking to another woman across the hall. She gave a small frown for a moment before letting herself glide gently across the dance floor to where her Jareth would be waiting.
"Jared should be around here somewhere." Jareth was speaking to the woman as Sarah interrupted.
"Jareth?" She questioned.
"Sarah! Meet Rosette, she has had her eye on Jared for quite some time now."
"Hello Rosette" Sarah replied, nodding her head politely.
"Evening Queen Sarah." Rosette replied. She had the most horrible voice that it nearly made Sarah cringe with fright. It seemed to be a cross between some sort of squeaking mouse and a horse.
"So, you are interested in my son?" Sarah asked, dropping her polite manner as she inspected the girl. The girl's eyes were a deep navy-blue, her lashes flicked delightfully as she spoke. A few freckles framed her face; the only thing that shattered her pleasant image was a rather large nose, which you could only describe as some type of hawk. Her figure was slight; she seemed well endowed under that red dress of hers. Sarah continued to peer at the dress. It seemed to wrap around Rosette's neck and flow down to her knees, it seemed quite tight— that was what Sarah was not very impressed with. She had pointy high-heeled shoes that matched the colour of her curly red hair. Sarah some-how felt that she could not trust this girl. Though she ensured herself, everything is not as it seems. Well, hopefully this was true in this case; otherwise she would not want a woman like this near her son.
"Yes, I was just asking the King where I might find him." Rosette questioned.
"I suppose he is over near the right-hand side as always. If you had been watching him as much as you say, you would have noticed he always keeps to the right side." Sarah replied, letting her eyes flicker to the side. She was trying to show Jareth that she did not approve of this.
"Oh, yes I did notice. I just could not see him standing near any of the walls as usual." Rosette said, smiling that most hideous smile of hers.
"He is probably dancing with Cushla." Sarah informed Rosette.
"Cushla?" Jareth questioned. Sarah shrugged this question off, it was obvious Jareth was ignoring Jared's companion as much as possible. Rosette's eyes slightly twitched as she heard this, but she tried to hide it in a smile.
"I'll try to find him, Ma'am." Rosette replied, curtseying to excuse herself before wandering off.
Sarah gave a glare towards Jareth, before looking away into the crowd as if she was trying to ignore him. She noted his outfit had changed. It seemed Jareth was wearing a rather large blue coat, which covered a cream shirt that flowed over some nicely pressed pants. His shirt was still open so that you could see parts of his chest and his usual necklace. Sarah would of smiled at his effort, if she wasn't still somewhat annoyed at him.
"Sarah..." Jareth began.
"Don't." Sarah interrupted, "Why did you have to interfere again, you know it's not fair on him. You said you were giving him a chance, now you have put an obstacle in his way. You haven't changed a bit in the 17 years I've known you, Jareth."
"Life isn't fair. If we expected everything to be fair all the time, we'd never be happy. If he really likes this girl of his, he won't be tempted by Rosette." Jareth explained.
"Who would? She has a nose like a hawk, she sounds like a rat and she reminds me of a carrot." Sarah said, quite immaturely.
"You have to understand..." Jareth tried to explain once again. Sarah just shaked her head as she walked over to him.
"I understand, I guess I'm just feeling like this resembles when I first came through the Labyrinth." Sarah reminded him.
"Look, just let me test him. After tonight, no more tricks." Jareth reassured her as he held out his hand to beckon her to dance with him.
"You expect me to believe the king of goblins has no more tricks up his sleeves?" Sarah smiled to herself as she said this, taking his hand.
Sarah and Jareth began to dance, step-by-step they moved there way around the hall. Sarah didn't notice that much, her eyes were too focused on Jareth's. It made her smile; she was reminded of when they first met.
"What are you smiling at?" Jareth questioned, though he was smiling himself.
"You, silly." Sarah replied.
~*~
"Come on." Jared seemed to be trying to convince Cushla to dance with himself. Though, she continued to shake her head as she had done for the last two hours. She was surprised he had not given up. He'd tried force, blackmail, pleading— none of it had worked.
"Nope." Cushla replied simply. Jared continued to admire her though. Sarah had seemed to helped Cushla out with one of her old ball gowns. Well, Sarah was the only one of his parents that ever took any notice of Cushla— he was surprised his father had even let her stay these past two weeks. He was also amazed that Cushla agreed to stay— he thought things must be quite bad back in the above grounds for her to actually agree to stay in such an unknown place. Though, this was not the point now, the point now was the Dress. Yes, the dress. Her shoulders were bare; the dress seemed to cut halfway across her breasts so that you could in fact see cleavage. Though, the thing that made this pale-blue dress decent was the fact that it reached down to her ankles in one line that curved delightfully in two places before it finally reaching its end. The thing that kept Jared in a trance was the sapphire necklace around her neck— it was the same colour as her eyes.
"One dance, just one." He continued, shaking his head away from the trance the necklace had put him in.
"You are never going to stop, are you? I can't stand another three hours of this..." Cushla sighed before she cut off her speech; her eyes were on the redheaded girl walking towards them. Cushla didn't like this; the girl's eyes were on Jared. It's not that Cushla had feelings for Jared; she just thought that this might be fun. "Of course I'll dance with you." She said, before almost hurrying to grab his hand.
"I don't trust you. You aren't nice, why have you changed just now?" Jared frowned as he led her onto the dance floor.
"You would of never stopped bugging me if I didn't." Cushla moaned as she began to dance with Jared. They seemed to be twirling quite a bit away from the girl, but it looked like she was still watching. Cushla smiled at the girl— she didn't like Jared, but she'd rather keep him to herself then some hawk. Wait a minute, hawk? Was Cushla thinking like Sarah?
"What a pity. I thought you liked me for a minute." Jared said sarcastically.
"You wish." Cushla said, looking around for the girl once more. She was getting closer. 'Damn, the hawk is coming. It's... it's... watching me like a... hawk!" Cushla thought to herself. Fine, it was time for the last resort. She inched herself closer to Jared and rested her head against his chest. She peeked at the girl, giggling as she saw her frown. Cushla meant no harm; she was just a bit of a trickster.
". . . What the heck? Heh, I guess I am to die for." Jared said, feeling quite proud of himself— he was too proud that he did not even realize the trickery on Cushla's part. He never thought when the time was right; he was one of those people who did not think before they act.
~*~
"One hour." Jareth mumbled. He was now holding Sarah in his arms. They seemed to be quite tired from their dancing. They were now rocking back and forward to the side, with only a few steps between each rock.
"You're still counting?" Sarah questioned, yawning slightly before leaning against Jareth.
"Of course, it would be no fun if I didn't." Jareth grinned.
"Ah ha, but you're losing. Rosette hasn't even touched Jared. While Cushla and Jared have been dancing all night." Sarah informed him.
"I said if they kissed, and they haven't. Cushla? That's her name is it? I'll remember it." Jareth assured her.
"She had been living in your castle for a few weeks now. I've talked to her, she is wearing my dress, you know? You should bother to take notice of her, you might find that you'd be surprised." Sarah said before adding something, "I'm still winning this time, Jareth"
"Not yet. Fifty minutes away now." Jareth said, "We won't miss anything. They are two metres away from us."
"Fifty minutes till I win. Like I've told you many times, it's a piece of cake." Sarah replied.
"And you have been wrong many times." Jareth counted. Sarah just rolled her eyes as always.
~*~ Cushla was quite comfortable where she was. Jared hadn't said anything, which was a blessing for her. It seemed that this was the only time in two weeks that he had stopped his sarcastic, up-himself remarks. It was amazing. If he kept this up, Cushla would actually stop getting headaches.
Bang! Cushla felt herself hit the ground. She opened one eye, squinting slightly. She didn't even see that coming, she must have tripped or something. That was a bit fast though, and it felt like something had pushed her. She held her head for a moment, the room finally stopped spinning within her eyes. She glanced around, looking up to see a flicker of red.
"I'm sooo sorry." Rosette said, trying to sound upset. Though it was obvious she was quite pleased with herself.
"Ouch." Cushla mumbled, standing herself up. She let her hands rub against her sore spots, which at the moment were in her back, thighs and one of her ankles. She looked up at the girl. 'So it was her, I thought it was. I didn't know she liked him that much. Maybe I should walk away or something.' Cushla thought to herself.
"Evening Prince Jared. It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Rosette Rougewart." The girl said, curtseying so low that Cushla thought she was about to do the limbo.
"Good Evening Rosette." Jared replied, "You left it a bit late for greetings, didn't you? There is only seven minutes left. Now, where did Cushla go?" Jared knew every well what happened, he was just trying to act smart.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I think I bumped into on the way here. I'm ever so sorry." Rosette replied, trying to sound sincere.
'Sure you are.' Cushla thought to herself.
"Jareth, did you see that?" Sarah whispered to her lover, "Rosette pushed Cushla over."
"Nothing bad when it comes to some friendly competition." Jareth replied, inching himself to the side. They were now only one metre apart from their son. Though, it seemed he had his hands to full to realize.
"Sorry for interrupting, but I'll be going to bed now, Jared." Cushla said, as she walked forward. Though, it seemed her fall before had lowered her dress slightly and she accidentally stood on it. Cushla felt herself suddenly begin to lose balance. She gasped, waving her arms around, she quickly grabbed onto Jared. Though, in this desperate seize for help, she had taken him down with her. She felt herself fall on top of him; she tried to place her hands on either side of herself to stop herself from completely impacting on Jared. Unfortunately, it was too late and she ended up falling face forward. She opened her eyes, to see herself staring into Jared's. She blinked for a moment; before she realized her lips were on his. This was not good. All that could distract her now was the gently chimes of the clock. It appear to have just hit midnight...
[I'll just leave you there ^^; I thought this chapter would be a lot longer, but it only ended up being longer by a bit! I'm glad that there is more Sarah/Jareth in this chapter; I hope you are all happy! Nice cliff- hanger here.]
