Chapter Four: Shattered Confidence
"What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?" ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The nursery was alive with bustling action. Everywhere you looked there were creatures of all shapes and sizes. Had it not been for her pale skin, Sarah would have never spotted Krystal, who was enjoying herself completely too much. With hair like her mothers and Aboveground clothing, she began to stand out more.
"I had no idea you, of all people, would have a nursery," she commented. Jareth merely nodded, his eyes wandering from goblin baby to goblin baby. "How long have you had it?"
"Several years actually," he informed her with a smile. "It's a rather big achievement of mine. I'm quite proud of it."
"And so you should be," she grinned. He didn't reply to that, instead he turned his back to her, walking over to where one of the attendants was scolding a toddler.
Sarah sighed, contently. This was perfect for someone like Krystal. She could get exercise and social involvement all at the same time. Sarah was sure her darling daughter could spend eternity in this room and never grow bored. However, forever was a long time. At one point in her life she had thought she would be with Jason forever. Now, looking back on it, she decided she was childish for such thoughts.
Going toward her child, she saw what Krystal was playing with. The glass orb floated on the edge of the air as if it weighed nothing. It had the appearance of a bubble. The familiarity of the object frightened her. Out of maternal instinct and an urge given to her by past events, she yanked Krystal away from the new toy. Immediately, her daughter began to cry, but Sarah was too preoccupied by the orb to worry about her child's opinion of the glass crystal.
"Something wrong?" a very arrogant Goblin asked. He was lounging in the sill of the closest windows. Sarah saw him, set Krystal down, and walked over to where the ball was still floating in the air.
Grasping it in her hand, she plucked it from the air as if it was no more than a flower in a meadow. Carefully, she brought it over to where he was. Holding it out to him, she glared daggers in his exact direction. "What is this?" she demanded.
"Why this old thing," he questioned, innocently, taking the orb from her. "It's just a crystal…nothing more." A wide grin spread on his face when he took in her annoyed expression. She recalled those words accurately enough. He didn't have to remind her of the night he had stolen her brother away. "But," he continued, despite the looks she was giving him, "if you turn it this way, it will show you your dreams."
"I'm grown up now, in case you haven't noticed," she snapped, picking Krystal back up.
"Physically, yes," he agreed, making the crystal disappear. "But mentally," he shook his head. "I'm afraid I can still see that stubborn fifteen-year-old trapped inside a scared outer shell of yourself," he told her.
"If I didn't have to set such a good example for her," she seethed, "I would hurt you."
"I sincerely doubt that," he chuckled, staring out the window to his lands.
"Oh really?" she asked, a mischievous look settling in her eyes. She removed one hand from holding Krystal and shoved him. Right on cue, the Goblin King lost balance and toppled out of the windowsill.
Smiling to herself, Sarah returned her daughter to the collection of goblin babies. She knew she hadn't killed Jareth. Falling from a window wouldn't kill many, unless it was a far drop onto something hard. Usually, it would just severely hurt them. Of course, then again, this was Jareth, the Goblin King. He'd probably come out with no more than a bruise or a scratch, if that.
She backed up, ready to sit down for a bit. Spotting a bench off to the side that she hadn't noticed before, she strolled over. As she sat slowly on it, she found the bench to be rather soft and cushion-like. Never before had stone felt so…well, nice.
"Honestly, Sarah, I've had women desperate to get in my pants before, but sitting in my lap doesn't really work with the approach you have been using as of late."
"Eeck!" she jumped up, leaping away from Jareth. "You pervert!" she shrieked, watching him laugh at her as he crossed his arms over his chest, not looking as if he cared in the least.
"Your words, dear, not mine."
"Jareth," she growled. "I'm in the right mind to kill you."
"But darling, you know you couldn't live without me another second," he pouted, but the wolfish smirk kept appearing. She knew he was trying not to laugh at her again.
"I'm leaving," she grumbled. Though that was impossible, at least she could get out of this room. Jareth was suffocating and she knew he wouldn't harm her daughter. Krystal was too precious. He couldn't lay a finger on her. She wasn't sure how she could trust him with her most loved possession, but somehow, she just knew.
Charging out of the room, she slammed the door shut behind her. The halls all looked the same, much like the lanes of the Labyrinth. Since in puzzles the key was always to take the left, she went to the right. Jareth was a bit backwards. Right was probably the safest beat she could make.
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Two hours later…
She was lost, completely and hopelessly lost. Images of Jareth watching her, smirking in all his glory flashed before her eyes. She could almost here him chuckling to himself as he spied on her, seeing the many mistakes she had made while trying to find a peaceful place to hide in. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she still was a child.
Being away from this place so long and now coming back and done something to her. It was like she had reverted to her old self, but if that was true, where was her inner confidence. It's shattered, a little voice in her head told her the obvious. Ever since the first time Jason had beat her, she had lost all self-esteem. She hadn't known what to do when it had happened because she was in such shock. Afterwards she had seen herself as weak and every time after that, things just continued to decline, going farther and farther downhill.
Each smack had dissolved some part of her undying faith. She no longer believed in fairy tale endings of happiness where the prince and princess rode off into a castle, got married, had children, and loved one another forever and ever until the end of time. That just wasn't how things went on anymore. No, things in the real world were different. In the real world, if you were a bad wife, you got taught a lesson.
Not paying attention, Sarah had run herself into a Dead End. Crying out in angry rage, she collapsed on her knees at the end of the hall. The walls were all bare except for the one in front of her, which annoyingly held a mirror. It was a reflection that she saw, a reflection of yet another defeat she had to take.
That's 1 for Sarah, 12 for Jareth, and about a million for Jason, she calculated mentally. The agony of the realization made her eyes prick with the slight pain of oncoming tears. Not anymore waterworks, she pleaded with herself. However, the begging did no good and soon she was crying once again.
"Mommy?"
Sarah looked up. In front of her, Krystal was standing with a red ball in her hands. The ball, she noted quickly, was nothing more than rubber and air. It wasn't made of glass, it didn't hold dreams, and it was not floating by itself. She glanced around her surroundings, seeing that she was back in the nursery, not in the middle of an unknown hallway.
"Mommy, why are you crying?"
She wiped her tears away, not wanting her daughter to see her cowardice. "Nothing hunny. Mommy is fine. I just got something caught in my eye and it started to water up."
"Ok!" Krystal smiled and hurried off to play.
With a sigh, Sarah sat down, blinking slowly a few times to make the soreness of her eyes lessen.
"Something in your eye, huh?"
"Just go away," she asked him, hardly putting either hatred or friendliness in her voice.
"Sarah," he started, kneeling down aside of her. He reached for her hand, taking it gently in his gloved one.
"No," she pulled away, scared of what he might do.
"I'm not going to hurt you, remember?" he reminded her softly. "Just let me help you." She shook her head again, but when he reached for her, she didn't push him away. He brought her close to his chest, holding her there until all her emotions had been vented out by her extreme amount of tears. "Better?"
"Yes," she wiped her face free again. "I needed that."
"I know."
"It's wonderful here," Sarah commented suddenly, trying to get away from her breakdown. A smile appeared on her face as she watched her daughter play with a girl goblin her own age. "Thank you for letting us stay here."
Jareth, who was also watching Krystal, shook his head slowly. "I don't want your thanks, Sarah."
She looked at him. "Then what do you want?"
He turned towards her, his mismatched eyes staring into her own. The rowdy chatter of all the playing children faded away. Sarah's breathing slowed until she wasn't aware that she was holding her breath. He seemed to be getting closer to her, but it could have been her imagination. Or at least that was what she blamed it on, until she felt his breath on her face.
"Nothing you can give," he told her.
And then he was gone.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to continue. In the next chapter I promise to include more of Jason and what happened to Sarah as his vicious attacks became worse. And there will be an update on how Jason is doing in the Labyrinth. I'm glad you all hate him enough and want to kill him. Bonus brownie points for those of you who make up horrific ways for me to kill him. *smiles evily* ~ Nev