Kerist: Okay, apparently I've been an idiot and not mentioned the color of Seth's eyes now that he's been subjected to Labyrinthine magic and had his human disguise ... expunged. Anyway. My stupid Muse's right eye is blue and his left eye is green, now that he's looking like a Fae again.
Seth: I'm not stupid. All of your reviewerslove me!
Kerist: Stop being so egocentric and do the disclaimer already, Seth. Or should I say... Sethrida?
Seth: Don't make threats.
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, and if you haven't realized that by now, then, well, you're just the saddest, most pathetic excuse for a human being ever.
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"Your eyes are different," I said, swallowing hard. Seth's eyes were not the crystal blue I was used to. Okay, well, one of them was. But the other was an emerald green. Definitely not what it had been before. I stared at him, waiting, perhaps, for the green to go away and the blue to come back.
His grip on my hand tightened when I said that. "Yes," he said, in the same tone of voice a person uses when someone walks in from outside, soaking wet from head to toe, and announces the surprising news that it's raining. Which it might have been, for all I knew. It had been over fourteen hours since I'd seen my house. Heh. If I was under the normal rules I would've lost, help or no help from my guardian angel.
We stared at each other for another minute. I felt strange. Why hadn't I thought more about what I was going to do when I saw Seth? I was sure I had made a plan, but I couldn't remember it. My brain felt like it was twitching. "What happened to your legs?" Seth finally asked.
A sharp pain fired off at the base of my neck. "Wall," I muttered, taking my hand away from Seth's. "What happened to your shirt?" A huge red stain was on the front of it. Not that I was worried. If it was blood he'd be in visible pain. Another sharp pain. I was supposed to be doing something. There was a question I had to ask Seth, but I couldn't remember it. Oh damn it! I knew the question was important... I should have written it down.
"Wine," he said, cocking his head to one side. He licked his lips. "Lots of wine," he added, taking a deep breath. I frowned. I'd never seen Seth eat or drink. I didn't know he could. He stepped towards me and took my hand again. I jerked it away without thinking. He looked hurt. I turned around and looked down the hallway. Shouldn't Jareth be somewhere around here? I started walking.
Wish to go home. Wish to go home. "Karleigh!" Seth yelled. He quickly closed the space between us and started walking next to me. Since his legs were longer, he was walking leisurely, but I felt like someone had lit a fire under me. If I hadn't been so tired from everything I would have ran. "Where are you going?" Seth demanded, putting his hand on my shoulder. Something snapped.
Flinching, I shoved him off. "Don't touch me!" I shrieked. "Don't ever touch me!"
The Muse looked baffled, but only for a second. The look on his face made me I realize I'd made him very, very angry. Damn it! I pivoted and started to run, but he grabbed me around my waist and lifted me up. "Let me go!" I wailed, thrashing my arms. He let out a short laugh and continued holding me against his chest. "Let me go, Seth!" My eyes started to tear up. "Please!" I begged. He didn't respond, just waited patiently. Frustrated, I beat my fists against his arms. Dropping to the floor wasn't such a bad prospect right then.
Only a minute later I was exhausted. "I hate you," I whispered, feeling tears start to stream down my face. He sighed heavily and put me down. As he spun me around to face him, I focused my eyes miserably at the floor. I swallowed. I wanted to say that I hated him again, but somehow I thought he'd gotten the message.
"What was that?" he demanded, voice full of ice. "What in the world have I done to you?"
I clenched my fists at my sides. "Lied," I said, looking up at him. "It's a pretty big issue for a Labyrinth fanfic writer to have their Muse know the Goblin King personally," I hissed. He scowled, probably resisting the urge to slap me. "You said you hated Labyrinth," I went on, deliberately stoking the fire. "How can you hate it? For all I know you were almost in it!" My voice rose to a high, squealing pitch. My nails dug deep into my palms. Stupid liar! I wanted to scream. I was so angry I couldn't even think of a proper insult.
"I can explain that," Seth said, still scowling.
I laughed bitterly and wiped some tears from my cheek. Of course he could explain it. He always had an excuse, didn't he? Stupid stupid stupid! "So explain," I said, grinning at him. "Tell me what that portrait is all about." The malicious tone of my voice was frightening. I didn't sound like me.
"Jareth had it painted," Seth said slowly. His hands had fallen by his sides. He was being wise by not touching me anymore. I didn't want him to touch me again. He was real! He was a real person! That was the biggest lie of all! How could he expect me not to be angry? "When I lived here," he said. He paused to gauge my reaction. But I wasn't really paying attention. I was angry. And I was supposed to be doing something. There was a question I had to ask Seth, but I couldn't remember it. Oh damn it! I knew the question was important... I should have written it down.
Seth looked conflicted. "Karleigh," he said, pained, "I used to live here. I was born here, in Underground. I grew up here. And I was... am... a good friend with Jareth."
A good friend with Jareth.
"I know you've read about the Fae, Karleigh." Why was I still in the Labyrinth? Seth looked so sad. "So you should know... why my eyes look like this. This... this is what I really look like, Kar." He spread his arms out in an a tell-all gesture. I glanced over his shoulder and down the hallway. Shouldn't Jareth be somewhere around here?
The Fae. I had read about the Fae. Seth was a Fae? Seth? A good friend with Jareth.
"You're...." I faltered. A question. I had to ask a question. "Why did you leave Underground?" Underground is a real place. I'm not sitting hunched over a computer, writing about it. I'm talking about it with Seth, because it's real. And Seth is real. And Seth is a Fae. A good friend with Jareth. "Why did you leave Underground?" I asked again. Why would anyone leave this place? If the fanfictions were really true - and it seemed as if an awful lot of them were - then Underground was a wonderful place. Why would anyone leave?
Seth looked at the ceiling. He remained silent. My blood began to boil, and, furious, I grabbed him by the collar. Shocked, he looked down at me. I met his mismatched eyes, one blue, one green, and glared at him. "Why, Seth, why?" I hissed. "What did you do?"
Seth did something very bad.
The voice was back, clawing at the inside of my eyeballs. If I could picture the voice as a thing, I would have drawn a little skinny goblin curled up inside my skull. It would have long, sharp talons. The voice hurt, but I knew it was saying the truth. Maybe it hurt because it was the truth.
Seth did something very bad.
"I was a thief, Karleigh," he whispered gently. I glared harder at him. That didn't seem very bad to me. Sheesh, I can't believe I just thought that. The media has definitely softened my views on crime. "I stole from a lot of good people, and I stole things I didn't need." He swallowed painfully and put his hands on my shoulders. I let his collar go and regarded him suspiciously.
He gave my shoulders a good hard squeeze. "I've stolen things that I've never been prosecuted for. Other people have died for my crimes, Karleigh." He didn't hesitate in adding, "Innocent people." He obviously knew that what he had done was wrong.
But something else was wrong too. "You're not guilty," I mumbled. He smiled at me and let me go. I stared at him for a second. He's disgusting. "You don't care that those people died," I went on, cocking my head to one side. A startled look crossed his face. "You're smug! You're proud that you got away with that crap! You don't feel the slightest bit of remorse for what you've done!" I was yelling now, fists clenched at my sides.
He shook his head. "I am sorry, Karleigh, very, very sorry. I never wanted anyone to die, I promise." He looked sad. His eyes looked genuine. But, then again, a less than a day ago his eyes had both looked blue.
Seth did something very bad!
The voice was shrill. The invisible goblin's talons would have pierced my eyes if he had been real. "You're not sorry for the bad thing!" I screamed hysterically. "You're not sorry for the bad thing!" I wasn't even sure what I was talking about. The words were coming out unbidden. I started shaking. I had to get out of here before he asked me what the hell I was talking about. I spun around and ran blindly down the corridor. Had to find Jareth!
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Lady Rachelle pressed her hand to her heart. Seth still isn't sorry for sleeping with that woman, she thought, turning her head to the fire. The thought came out of the depths of her mind. She delicately bit her tongue. Her attention for the moment was pulled off of Jareth. Seth was almost hers, but he still wasn't sorry for being with someone else. He didn't care enough about her to be sorry for that.
Jareth leaned back. The smile would not leave his face. He nodded absently towards the door. It opened, revealing the goblin, who panicked and scuttled into the hallway. Jareth could hear his servant's frantic footsteps echoing on the marble floors as it rushed to give the signal that the dear Lady had said something rather revealing.
'What else would I have been doing, Jareth?' was the easiest admission he had ever gotten out of anyone. And over the millennia, many, many people had broken the rules of the Labyrinth. It had taken him days to get confessions out of some of them. Some of them never confessed. But it was so much easier to punish someone and let the Labyrinth have its petty revenge if the person admitted to breaking the rules.
'Petty revenge' might not have been the right word for what happened to those people. The right word might have been gruesome, bloody, sadistic, grisly, macabre, twisted, perverted, or 'OHDEARGODTHEHUMANITY!!!,' but Jareth wouldn't really know. He never allowed himself to witness the punishment, and he had the goblins clean up the remains. If they complained about it afterwards, and they always did, he banished them to the Bog of Eternal Stench.
Strangely enough they all seemed happier there.
The goblin's footsteps faded. Jareth took a deep breath. He knew what would be coming next, and he did not want to be around for it. "Lady Rachelle," he said, standing. She nodded vaguely, still entranced by the fire, but aware enough to notice that Jareth was speaking to her. "My lady," he continued, bowing slightly, "I must attend to something for a moment. But, please, remain here until I can send someone for you. My," he hesitated, "...messenger will tell you what to do when he... it... gets here."
Rachelle yawned. "Of course, Jareth, but it had better not be one of those filthy goblins," she muttered, settling down into a chair. She was tired. The magic she'd used on Karleigh had taken a lot of energy out of her. And hacking through the defense systems of the Labyrinth was a taxing task. It was a wonder she hadn't already fainted from exhaustion. "Send me one of your pages..." she mumbled, eyes closing. "Or Seth," she added eagerly.
Jareth cringed. If Lady Rachelle had been human, surely by now she would have been put in a nice little institution somewhere because of this obsession of hers. The past year, while Seth was Aboveground with Karleigh, had been absolute hell. Rachelle had been depressed almost the entire time. She took out a great deal of her depression on her dear old friend Jareth.
Hunting expeditions, gladiatorial combats, necromancy ceremonies, operas... what hadn't he been dragged to over the past year? And of course, an Underground year is longer than an Aboveground one. Painfully longer, Jareth reflected. "I will not send Seth," he told Rachelle firmly.
Her eyes opened. She frowned. "But I want to see him. And it's not like he's doing anything," she said. Not unless Jareth had given him a mission or something. "Oh dear, you haven't already turned him into a spy, have you, Jareth?" Rachelle asked, propping her chin up on her hand.
Laughing, Jareth once again resisted the urge to punch Rachelle. Turn Seth into a spy! The thought was ludicrous. Seth had been out of practice for too long. He would make a horrible spy. "Of course not, my dear lady," the Goblin King assured her, smiling.
"Good," Rachelle purred. "Because, you know, he'll be mine when Karleigh condemns him. Which she will." Lady Rachelle had been given sufficient time to build up her ego. She no longer believed it was even a possibility that her magic could have failed. Karleigh was either in the castle presently or would arrive soon. "I'll give him a room near mine," she mused, falling into a daydream.
Despite his longing to get out of there before his little surprise showed up, Jareth couldn't resist a small battle. "Seth never signed that contract, Rachelle," he pointed out.
Rachelle's stare would have made even the great Attila the Hun fall to the floor, blubbering and begging for his life to be spared. In several different languages. But Jareth was not Attila the Hun. He wasn't a Hun at all. He coolly returned Rachelle's stare with one of his own, which could have chopped Alexander the Great off his horse. If he had been alive, on a horse, andin the room. Which he wasn't. So Jareth's gaze barely affected Rachelle.
"That doesn't mean he won't be mine," Rachelle whispered softly. She wrung her hands together. Seth just had to be hers when Karleigh left. Who else did he have to turn to? Certainly the High Court wouldn't allow him to stay with Jareth. The Goblin King was too powerful, and not above using Seth's old skills to his own advantage. Even if Seth was caught for another crime, there was nothing worse than sending him to be a Muse, and they couldn't do that again. Karleigh's word would bind him to Underground. And the High Court wasn't exactly known for its on-the-spot thinking and creativity. They'd brush off anything Seth did.
"His custody will be left up to the High Court," Jareth intoned. He knew full well that the High Court did not currently feel any love for Lady Rachelle. She caused more trouble than she was worth, in their opinion. Jareth smiled to himself. The custody battle, if there was one, which he doubted, would be long and bloody, and he would win. Besides being a complete bitch, Rachelle drank too much. The High Court never gave custody to the person who drank too much.
Long and bloody... ah, right. Jareth shook himself and returned to reality. The thing that the Labyrinth would send after Rachelle to punish her would be coming soon. "But you must excuse me," he said, returning to the original subject. "I really must be going now. Crises can't be averted without the King, you know," he said, grinning.
Rachelle scowled and slid down in her chair, suddenly tired again. She yawned and waved a hand at the Goblin King, not caring any more about the argument. He had a temper. And he had goblins. The High Court would never give custody to someone who had goblins. Or used something called 'The Bog of Eternal Stench' as punishment. Jareth had been raised without spankings. "Go on," she muttered, "get out of here."
Jareth turned around and quickly fled the room. He walked in the opposite direction from where the goblin messenger had gone. He didn't even want to see what was coming for Rachelle. It was horrible and ugly and had a nasty habit of killing anything and everything it met eyes with. And it was ugly. Uglier than the goblins. Which is saying something, Jareth thought with a wry grin.
He heard a metallic echo and halted. For a moment the urge to turn around and inspect the noise was incredibly powerful. The Goblin King had to use every inch of his willpower to force himself down the remaining length of hallway. Especially when the second and third echoes came.
Jareth grudgingly continued, battering himself with reminders of what would happen if he gave into temptation and turned around. It would be worse, he strongly suspected, than when Sarah declared that he had no power over her. And that had been the most painful moment in Jareth's entire life. So far, anyway.
Jareth closed his eyes as he rounded the corner. No use in risking seeing the cause of the fourth echo. As soon as he was around the corner, he felt safe enough to stop and lean up against the wall. He closed his eyes and changed his casual outfit into the black one he had worn when he revealed his true form to Sarah for the first time. It was grander and more intimidating than the movie costumers had managed to make it.
He reached out his hand and summoned a crystal. A fifth echo. He scowled. It was now or never, if he really did not want to give into temptation. Taking a deep breath, he sent himself to Karleigh.
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Karleigh ran down the hallway. Seth gritted his teeth and ran after her, in the back of his mind pleased with how easy his stride had become. But other things preoccupied most of his mind. What had gotten into the girl? Maybe Rachelle had really put magic into her, despite the myriad of dangers it would entail. It would certainly account for this mood swing. Startled, confused, and embarrassed one moment, it hadn't taken his precious author long to erupt into seemingly unprovoked rage.
"Karleigh wait up!" He yelled, tackling her even as he yelled it. The two rolled to the floor. Karleigh started kicking at him, screaming at him to stop touching her. He felt his own anger boil again. He'd been with her for a long year. Had she forgotten all the times he'd touched her? Hadn't she never tried to push him away? "Stop it, Karleigh," he ordered, grabbing a firm hold on her arms.
This was new for both of them. The farthest either had gone with each other during combat was pillow fighting. Actual struggle was a shocking thing. Made even more shocking by how easily Seth found subduing her to be. Was the Labyrinth making him stronger, or was Karleigh just completely lacking in upper body strength? It was so easy to push her arms down to the cold floor. What was scarier than that, though, was the power kick he was getting from it.
Adrenaline-fueled, she tried as hard as she could to break away from her Muse, which only made him angrier. How many times had she welcomed his touch? Found his arms comforting, even? What the fucking hell has gotten into her? Seth wondered, glad that he had pinned her to the floor. "Get off of me!" she shrieked. "Get the hell off of me!" Scowling, Seth straddled her. He wouldn't be shouted at like this. Karleigh started to really panic. Desperate and terrified, she cried out for help. "Jareth!" she screamed. "Somebody help!"
Seth couldn't take it any longer. He let go of one of Karleigh's arms and slapped her.
She instantly quieted. Seth pinned her arm back down and lowered his face to hers. "Stop it," he commanded. She shrank a little. "Do not," he hissed, touching noses with her, "do not ever try and tell me when I can touch you and when I can't. I am a Fae. You're human. You cannot suddenly whip around and decide that you're allergic to me."
If she hadn't been so frightened, Karleigh would have smiled at that. It was a good line. But she was scared, and she closed her eyes to brace herself for whatever was coming next. Seth had never hit her before. If that didn't bring home that he was real, nothing would. In fact, no one had ever hit her before. It was a new experience all together. What had her health classes told her to do when she was in this situation?
Well, not this situation. Her health classes had never told her what to do if she was attacked by her Muse in the castle beyond the Goblin City. If they had she would have been a little worried about her teacher's mental state.
But hadn't there been something similar? The only thing she could think of was the date rape situation. Which she didn't want to think of at all, really. It would be better for Seth to be Sethrida than for him to be a full-fledged male, furious with her, pinning her to the ground. With no one around to hear her screaming. What had the health book said about that?
Oh, right, stay calm.
Ha.
In reality Seth wasn't sure what he wanted to do now that he'd finished berating Karleigh. Somehow it didn't seem appropriate to just climb off her and continue their conversation where they'd left off. She'd called out for Jareth! Damn it all to hell and back! How could she do that? Yes, okay, he had been wrong in slapping her, he admitted to himself. But it had worked. She'd quit screaming at him. Still, there was no reason for her to think he was going to do anything that warranted crying out for Jareth's help.
Keeping his face close to hers, he whispered, "I am sorry for striking you. You were getting out of hand." He took a deep breath and contentedly noticed Karleigh's perfume, something like vanilla and sugar. He had never noticed that before. It was nice. He sighed and shook himself. Now he had finally calmed down enough to release his grip on her. He sat cross-legged next to her while she sputtered and tried to regain her breath. It would only take a moment to ask the question he wanted to ask, but she'd probably scream at him again.
He glanced down at her. Her hair was spilling over her face, and her shirt and already short shorts were riding up. He took a deep, calming breath and gently helped her sit up. As soon as she was breathing normally, he bent forward and whispered his question in her ear. "Is that a new perfume?"
Stunned, she froze. Seth took another breath, and smelled the same pleasing scent he had a few seconds prior. If it wasn't new, then he figured he was the blindest, stupidest male on the entire planet, Aboveground and Underground both included, and deserved whatever bruises Karleigh had left him with from their little struggle.
"Seth," Karleigh whispered. "Seth, you're scaring me." She looked at him, shaking and obviously horrified. Seth being a man, of course, he didn't consider for a second that it was his question that was making her act this way.
He looked at her tenderly. "I had you for a whole year," he murmured, "and I never once took advantage of it."
Karleigh's heart was pounding painfully against her ribcage. Took advantage of their time together? What in heaven's name was he talking about? He had just slapped her! Where was this sappy spew coming from? Now he was holding, no, cradling her against his chest. "What are you talking about, Seth?" she asked in a hushed voice. He had her for a whole year? Wasn't the author supposed to be in charge of the Muse? She never remembered reading anything where the Muse was the commanding force in the relationship.
"Karleigh," he murmured. He stared at her for a second.
Karleigh began to cry. She curled up into a ball and wrapped her arms around herself. Nothing was fair. She didn't remember the question she was supposed to ask Seth, and she didn't have the energy to get up and laugh in Jareth's face about defeating his Labyrinth. The layout of the castle started to slip from her mind. Seth had hit her and practically kissed her in the span of five minutes. Cold sweat was oozing out of the spot where her neck had been hurt earlier.
Behind her back, Jareth popped into existence. He looked down at Seth's figure, and frowned. The Fae was brooding. He shifted his gaze towards Karleigh, and his frown deepened. Perhaps he hadn't been bluffing when he'd said Rachelle's magic had gone bad. This was not someone who was exuberant about conquering the biggest challenge they had ever been presented with.
He was about to call out for Seth to explain what was going on when Karleigh decided to speak.
"I want to go home," she moaned, tears spilling down her face. "I just want to go home!"
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Author's Note: Aw, now I've gone and made myself sad. Why did I go and do a thing like that? Sigh. Well, Nano has been... argh. Don't even ask. And I have a stupid project on Magellan to do. Timeline, an essay, and a brochure! I hate Magellan. Okay, well... hmm... hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in about three weeks. Maybe less if I really motor.
BlueyChan, Wow, I've contributed to your delinquency. Another goal to check off of my list. Hehe thanks so much for the review! Mab, Queen of Faerie, ah, yes, unfortunately November. I wish I was more motivated. Thanks for reviewing my story again.
Princess-RainbowRose, ah, did you like this chapter? Am I being excessively cruel to you? Haha it's just so much fun... and yet so depressing. It has to get happy soon, right? But then again, I thought that before I learned the end of Romeo and Juliet, too. But then again, who loves Shakespeare? There's a cryptic enough clue for you. Yes, I yelled at Jareth. But he yelled back, and quite frankly he was better at it. Le sigh. Haha. Thanks for reviewing!
Moonjava, Thanks for the compliment! And, of course, the review. Sorry for the wait. Lady Moofin, Oh... I felt really bad when I read your review. Cause I already knew what I had planned for this chapter. Thanks for making me feel guilty! And the lovely review.
Fou Fou, ooh, I'm ignoring a project too! Yay procrastination! I like keeping Seth stupid. It's more painful that way, don't you think? Ah well he has to find out eventually. Thanks for the review, hope the next wait won't be as long as this one was. sych77, you always start your reviews out so elegantly. It's a real skill. Wow. I don't even work one job. Much applause to the Great Multitasker. Loved the review, thanks!