Kerist: Oooh! Guess what! I had my birthday party (two weeks late) and my friend bought me the Labyrinth DVD! And a warning, I still know nothing about scoliosis. I'm just making stuff up. Maybe it'll turn out to be something different after all (dundundun) And this stupid website won't let me use my normal scene breaker-upper. So now I have a new one. Again. Sigh. Actually I used it last chapter but just didn't mention it. Anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth or Zelda, in fact, I've never even played Zelda, I've just seen pictures. But my friend plays Zelda, so that's just as good, right?
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In spite of myself, I clung to Seth's arm. He shook me off and patted my head, his focus on the teenage-looking kid in front of us. The kid's brown hair was disheveled, his shoulders bony, and he was barely taller than me. I would've been convinced he was only fourteen, too, but his eyes just seemed… more intelligent than that, more mature. What was his name again? Donatello, was it? No, maybe it was Michelangelo. Wait, Leonardo… oh, it was one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Who was the fourth one again?
Seth's face was blank, but from his stiff posture I knew he was uncomfortable. "Your Honor," he said, inclining his head to… oh, Raphael, that was it. "I believe I have more than atoned for my crimes." His voice was calm, even, solemn. Raphael just rolled his eyes, and I wanted to throttle him. Seth couldn't have done anything bad enough to deserve death, he just couldn't have. He drew a deep breath. "For what I have done, the death penalty is excessive. As a radical I am surprised you would even consider implementing that punishment."
"I am called a radical by my opponents," Raphael said, shrugging. "At heart I am rather conservative." He smiled, showing some of the whitest teeth I'd ever seen. "The government, in my opinion, is too bleeding-heart. They're too concerned with crossing moral lines to see the truth about repeat offenders. Off with their heads, I say. Saves money." His hands were folded in his lap, and his stance was relaxed. For a minute he looked Seth up and down, contemplating something or other. "I'm guessing, then, that you are a radical."
Seth paused. "At present I find myself thinking radically, yes," he said. Raphael laughed, and Seth's face reddened.
The judge slid further back on Jareth's desk and crossed his legs. "You still haven't answered my question. Forget politics, forget the law," he said, tugging on the tight collar of his robe. I noted a couple beads of sweat on his neck. Hmmf. I hoped he was burning alive under that stupid robe. "Every time you have been given another chance you have abused it," he said, glaring at Seth. "You have committed crime after crime -"
The corner of Seth's mouth twitched. "I was only convicted once," he said.
The air grew very still. Raphael didn't blink for a full minute, didn't take a single breath. I looked at Jareth, who had his eyes turned toward the ceiling, his lips mouthing a silent prayer. I wasn't very proficient at lip reading but I could make out a little bit of the words. It was easier … I frowned, the next couple words came too quickly to make out. …is an unlucky letter… What the hell did that mean? Seth, I was sure of that. Sarah easier than this… Oh, well, that was an interesting tidbit. From the movie it didn't seem like she'd be easier. Seth is… my grave.
Raphael stopped me from figuring that last part out. He finally started breathing and blinking again. "Yes," he said, cracking his knuckles. "You've only been caught once. But look what one capture got you," he said, voice sharp. "You had the majority of your powers taken from you, you lost control of your family's lands, you lost your title, you were taken out of the only world you've ever known, sentenced to live among species you've never had contact with before, and for what?" he asked, his face red, his breathing hard and fast. "For a spell that you didn't even have the power to cast? To annoy your best friend, the owner of the spell?" Raphael's fingers were curled around the edge of Jareth's desk, and as he finished up his question the wood paneling that made up the edge broke off. Raphael didn't even wince when splinters of wood drew blood from his palms. He raised his hands to his mouth and started picking out the splinters with his teeth, muttering something about bacteria. "Why, Seth?" he asked, using Seth's name for the first time. "Why should you get a second chance when I -" He stopped suddenly, and closed his mouth. A small smirk played across the Goblin King's face.
A woman climbed over a chair by the fire. She combed her long, honey-colored hair behind her ears, and pulled the hem of her red dress down. She was wearing leather armor, too, and overall she reminded me of the fantasy RPG's I always liked to play, like something straight out of Zelda. For a second she looked at Seth, but then she focused her eyes - …red… - on Raphael, and she crossed her arms over her chest. Red eyes… nah, couldn't be. This woman was human, or at least humanoid, she couldn't have been back in the jungle…
Seth wet his lips. "I deserve a second chance," he said slowly, "because I have debts to repay. I should get a chance to repay them. The people I owe… deserve to be compensated."
I stared at him, amazed. I didn't know all the details, of course. But from my impartial position… that argument didn't sound very convincing. Seth had to have something else to live for. I felt my fingers digging into my thighs, and my eyes watering. Startled, I quickly composed myself. Why was I so nervous? Up until the little adventure started I'd thought Seth was a figment of my imagination, a hallucination. For all I knew he was, and I was imagining this entire thing.
"Is that all?" Raphael asked, sneering. "Should I just have you killed as soon as you repay these debts?'
Seth looked down at the floor. "No. There's something else." The way he said it made my heart skip a beat.
"Well?" Raphael demanded.
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Seth's palms were sweaty, had been for the last fifteen minutes. He didn't want anyone to notice, though, so he kept his palms facing inward, and didn't reach to wipe the sweat off on his pants. He nervously wet his lips again, and glanced at Karleigh out of the corner of his eye. The look on her face struck a cord in him. Her lips were slightly parted with an unspoken sentence, and her eyes searched him, trying to figure out what he was going to say before he said it. In that moment he was more scared than he'd ever been. He'd broken into safes, been run into closets when people came home early, jumped off balconies when husbands came home early, not made it in time to jump off balconies when husbands came home early, sat through a trial where his ex-lover tried to have him killed, and he'd never been as nervous as he was right then. Taking a deep breath, he glanced one more time at Karleigh, and thought, I think you know what I'm about to say, even if you don't realize it.
He stared right into Raphael's eyes. "I'm in love," he said. He felt a smile cross his face, and he couldn't stop it. Not that he tried very hard. "And I'm pretty sure the girl I'm in love with loves me back."
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"Isn't that right, Karleigh?" he asked, turning towards me. The grin on his face was a mile wide. My jaw dropped, my heart raced. His eyes, the blue one and the green one, sparkled. And I heard something, I wasn't sure if it was my thought or if he was projecting, You knew.
For no obvious reason, the memory of the first time I'd met him came into my head.
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I was at the doctor's office for the third time that month. My back really hurt, badly enough that I'd had to check out of school the day before. Just putting my backpack on was murder, I'd had to drag it along the floor when my mom showed up outside the building. Right then my eyes were teary, and I was laying on the examination bed, face down, shoes on the floor, jacket hung on a chair. Why I wasn't at the chiropractor's I had no idea. The doctor hadn't done anything for me so far. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. Damn it, I knew carrying around all those stupid textbooks was going to get to me one day. I should haul off and sue the school.
The door opened. I glanced up, expecting my mother, but it was a nurse. A male nurse. He was wearing the traditional white shirt and pants, I couldn't see far down enough to check his shoes. I felt myself blush as he smiled at me. Short black hair, crystal blue eyes, strong figure: he looked like a hero straight out of one of my stories. He walked over to me and stood next to the examination bed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well, aren't you just a sight?" he asked. My blush deepened. He picked up the clipboard the doctor left and started reading through the papers. He raised his eyebrows and let out a long, low whistle. I immediately bit my tongue. "You're in for a fun time today," he said, wincing. He put the clipboard back down. Then he moved behind me, where I couldn't see him. Frustrated, I blew my hair out of my eyes. I hadn't said anything yet and now I couldn't think of anything to say. This wasn't the nurse who'd ushered me into the room, and I'd never seen him before. "How old are you?" he asked.
I closed my eyes. "Fifteen and six months," I said. Fingers brushed my back, and the nurse pushed my shirt up. As much as it killed me, I bolted up and turned around. The nurse looked confused, his hands were still outstretched, and he looked me up and down like I was a different species or something. "What the hell was that?" I asked, tasting blood as I bit down on my tongue to keep from crying out in pain. Damn, something was really wrong with my back.
"A massage," he said, smiling again. "Your back hurts, doesn't it? I was going to make it feel better." The smile was so charming that I couldn't think of an answer. And my back did hurt, enough to where I had to lay back down, face down so as to keep pressure off my back. The nurse chuckled. "I won't move your shirt this time," he promised. Fingers against my back again, but above the fabric of my shirt, thankfully. I shut my eyes, and let him rub my back. It took a few moments before I could trust him enough to relax my shoulders, though. He chuckled again. "My name is Seth, by the way."
"Seth…" I murmured. "I like that name." I immediately, mentally, smacked myself. What an intelligent thing to say, Karleigh, you're just astonishing him with your sharp wit. Not that it mattered, right. I didn't have any reason to impress this guy, I'd never even seen him before. So why did I feel like I had some expectation of his to live up to? Fumbling for something to say, I finally came up with the generic, "My name is Karleigh."
He thought about that for a moment. "I like that name," he said. His hands moved up to my shoulders, which hadn't really been causing me that much trouble, but it felt nice. He laughed, and started rubbing my neck. "Don't," he said when I tried to push him away. I put my hands down, but I couldn't help but feel nervous. It seemed strange to have him touching my neck, just too personal or something. "Relax," he ordered. I grunted, frustrated. "Really," he said, "there's nothing to worry about. I'm a professional," he said. I reluctantly obeyed.
After a minute the door opened again. Seth adjusted himself so he was standing out of the way of the doctor and my mother, but could keep rubbing my back. To my surprise, my mom didn't say anything about the twenty-odd something giving me a massage. The doctor didn't seem to take much notice, either. He nodded in my direction but I couldn't tell if it was directed at me or Seth. Sighing, the doctor picked up the clipboard and made some marks on the top paper. I looked at my mom. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her hands were fisted so tight her knuckles were white. Through it all Seth just kept massaging, hands moving down to my shoulders again. I closed my eyes again, bored. The doctor clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "I'm afraid you're going to have to have surgery, Karleigh."
I sat up, startled. "Surgery?" I asked. Seth pushed me back down onto the examination bed. The doctor and my mother stared at me, strangely. I groaned, and pressed my face into the weird paper covering on the bed.
"It's fairly routine," the doctor said. He droned on for a few minutes, my mom nodding her head occasionally and murmuring inane questions from time to time. At first I didn't even notice it when Seth stopped massaging my back. My back didn't start throbbing when he took his hands away, thankfully. I glanced up at him. He was leaning against the wall, hands stuck in his pockets, watching the doctor and my mother with a critical eye. I could only wonder what he was thinking. His eyes were sharp, narrowed, and even though I'd just met him I got the feeling he figured he knew more about my condition than the doctor did. A surprise to me, I actually wanted to know what his opinion was. That was insane, of course. He was just a nurse, and he hadn't even examined me, he couldn't know all that much..
He looked down at me, and didn't smile. We stared at each other for a minute, until my mom tapped my shoulder and hauled me out of the examination room. She said something about needing to go by the pharmacy, pick up some pain medication, and I agreed. Already my back was aching again. I wished I was still getting that massage, that had been wonderful.
I was hunched over by the time we got out to the parking lot, forced to look at the ground as we walked. My mother linked her arm through mine and helped me totter over to the car, a gold-colored sedan. My eyes just caught the bumper, and my mom opened my door for me, helped me into the backseat. I managed to get my seatbelt by myself, and she got into the driver's seat. Sighing, I fell over, intending to go to sleep. The seatbelt would probably kill me if we got into a crash, but I didn't figure the chances of that being so high.
My cheek hit someone's thigh. I jerked up, saw Seth grinning at me. "What the hell are you doing?" I screamed, pushing myself up against the car door. How'd he get in here?
"Karleigh, watch your tongue!" my mom snapped. "I'm just checking my hair, don't be in such a rush!"
Gaping at her, I turned back to Seth. He was smirking, and he winked at me. He was dressed in jeans and a blue button-up shirt now, he had a silver watch on his wrist. "She can't see me or hear me, Karleigh. I'm all yours," he said. He bent forward and brushed his finger over my chin, making me shut my mouth. For a second his hand lingered there, and then dropped back to his lap. "Tell me," he said, leaning back. "Do you know what a Muse is?"
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"…Yes…" I said, half in the present and half in my mom's old car. Then I grasped what I'd just admitted to. Seth looked like he would've bent down and kissed me if Jareth and Raphael and the Zelda girl hadn't been staring at us like we'd just announced we had bombs strapped to our stomachs. I blushed, thought about correcting myself, and then realized I didn't want to in the least.
Raphael looked down. "Love," he barked. He thought about it for a moment, opened and shut his mouth a few times. The Zelda girl was watching him intently, Jareth had opened up a scroll and was circling things with a big feather quill. The judge jumped off the desk and landed on the floor with a soft thud. "I can't believe this is your reason I cannot believe you think I am going to accept that answer. It's absolutely disgusting," he said. The blood drained out of my face, and I gripped the arms of my chair, suddenly terrified. Seth looked confused, the Zelda girl was enraged, and Jareth was humming to himself. "I am absolutely not going to pardon you for such a pathetic excuse."
Seth's hand was on my shoulder, pulling me away from Raphael. He walked me over to the door, all the while gripping my arm, helping me walk. I felt as helpless as the day I'd first met him. But now, well, everything was all backwards, everything was wrong. Seth opened the door to the room and pushed me out into the hallway. "A goblin will take you somewhere you can relax," he said, frowning. He undid the button on his collar, nervously tugged on his shirt. "Don't worry about me," he added, noting the look on my face. "I'll be fine."
"He's going to kill you," I said, and my voice cracked.
"Go," Seth said, carefully keeping his face blank. He shut the door. I stared at the wooden paneling for a moment, and felt someone tug on my shirt. I looked down to see a goblin, a particularly ugly one, which was saying something. My shoulders slumped, and I reluctantly followed it down the hallway.
Seth, gone. Already. And I hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. He'd said not to worry, but I had to. The look on Judge Raphael's face had been easy to read: he was going to have Seth put to death. Oh God, that rhymed. I stumbled, and accidentally knocked into the goblin. It scowled at me and headed down a staircase, me right behind. I felt like I was about to cry. Who knew if Raphael would let me see Seth again before he … deep breath … went away. Seth hadn't said goodbye. People said goodbye when they had the intention of saying hello again. I clenched my fists at my sides, and stomped down the next hallway after the goblin. He opened a door and I walked inside a small bedroom, barer than the one Seth had taken me to before. I turned around to ask the goblin something but it had already shut the door and was gone.
I looked around, and saw another door. Sighing, I opened it. Beyond was a bathroom, in white marble. I stared at the clawfoot tub for a moment, before deciding that I really needed to hop in. I closed the door behind me, turned on the hot water, and quickly undressed. The second The last of my clothes hit the floor I jumped into the water, on the off chance that Seth walked in. I nearly jumped back out again, the water was so hot. Wincing, I turned the cold tap on too.
I sank under the water and waited until the tub was full to turn the faucets off. The 'bath' my guardian… Rachelle had given my earlier in that pond had made me feel dirtier. Scrubbing the dirt off my shoulders, watching it fall into the water, felt like peeling off a second, scaly skin. I wanted to use up the entire soap bar, even though it made the cuts on my legs and the ones from the fall Rachelle had given me sting like hell, until I spotted the shampoo. I used two palmfuls. Then I let the dirty water drain out, and filled the tub back up with fresh water.
When I finally came back out, grudgingly dressed in my t-shirt and jeans, I half expected Seth to be sitting on the bed, wine-soaked shirt tossed to the floor, shoes kicked off. He wasn't, of course. Bastard.
Fuming, I fell on the bed and punched the pillow. Where did Raphael get off? What made him so high and mighty that he just flung death convictions around like no tomorrow? A shot of pain arched through my back. Grunting, I fell down on the bed, smothered by the pillow. My back started aching, and it occurred to me for the first time that I didn't have my pain medication with me. I groaned. I didn't even have Seth to make it feel better, or anything to distract myself with. If I was lucky I'd get to sleep, but I doubted that. When my back acted up like this, Damn I sound ancient, I always had a hard time falling asleep. It was difficult to take my mind off the pain… for the past year Seth had been helping me with that.
He wouldn't help me pick out classes for my junior year. He'd seen me turn sixteen, in six months he wouldn't be there to see me turn seventeen. He wouldn't help me pick out a college, he wouldn't be at my high school graduation, he wouldn't be there if and when I published my first book. And he wouldn't be there to see me finish my fanfic.
The first of many tears rolled out of my eyes.
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Seth was sitting by the fire, his chin resting in his hand. He hadn't been listening to the conversation since he'd sent Karleigh off. Malferz tried to shake him out of his stupor, but had no success. She sighed and walked back over to Jareth's desk. Raphael was resolute, he refused to try and be talked out of his decision. He kept shaking his head, even when nobody was talking to him. His shoes were uncomfortable, this was longer than his normal workday, and he wanted to kick them off, but couldn't. The Goblin King was circling things in his scroll, reading over things. "Well?" Malferz finally asked, looking back and forth between them. Jareth stood up and unrolled the scroll completely.
He cleared his throat and began reading. "Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. Stream Hydrology: An Introduction for Ecologists. Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change. A Guide to Aquaculture," he said. Raphael tensed, his eyes darted towards Jareth, sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth. Malferz was confused, she didn't understand what was going on. Across the room Seth raised his head slightly, still staring into the fire. "A Guide to Beekeeping. Raising A Healthy Flock of Sheep. Encyclopedia Britannica, editions -"
"Stop," Raphael said. "Why are you reading an index of my library?"
Jareth smiled. "I'm reading an inventory of books Lord Seth of Edoc has stolen from Aboveground and brought to Underground, Your Honor," he said. "Of course, this is only a recent list. Would you like to hear one from before you were banished to spend the rest of your life in our world?"
Nothing, for a minute. Then Raphael collapsed into a chair, his hands shaking, his face pale. He titled his head down, pressing his chin tight against his chest. Jareth rolled the scroll back up and laid it down on his desk, a slight smirk on his face. He glanced over at Seth, who had stood up, and was watching the group with a guarded look. "No one knows about that," Raphael finally said, softly. He paused for a moment. "It happened so long ago I don't even know how many years have passed. But I do remember that I destroyed the records myself."
"You set a room on fire," Jareth corrected him. He looked up at the ceiling, thought for a minute. "If I remember correctly… and I usually do, you're one-fourth human, one-fourth Fae, one-fourth fairy, and one-fourth mer. You're incredibly lucky, you know," he said idly. "To be blessed with the physical characteristics of only one of those species. Your parents, I believe, were not so lucky," he said. He watched Raphael, and missed Malferz's startled gasp. She stared at Raphael in utter disbelief. He looked human - sure, he was rumored to have the endurance of a Fae - but fairy and mer? Where the hell had those come from, Atlantis, the outer regions of the Labyrinth?
"My mother looked human, but she had fairy wings. Small ones, but they were still there, and poked out from underneath all her dresses," Raphael finally said. "My father was a Fae with outlandishly dry skin, and the uncanny ability to speak to fish and water-dwelling mammals and reptiles. Aboveground was not tolerant of them, let alone their child," he muttered, bitterly. "Especially once I reached puberty and my powers began to develop." He took a few deep breaths, buried his face in his hands, to keep everyone from seeing the few tears that fell from his eyes. "So they had a witch send me here, where I haven't aged a day since." His shoulders were shaking now. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to survive in Underground when you were born in Aboveground? When the blood between you and your paranormal relatives is no thicker than water? It's almost impossible, the first job I had down here was as a stable boy!"
He looked up, face wet with tears and a scowl spread across it. Jareth actually took a step back, and Seth moved a little closer to his chair, amazed by the rage Raphael had worked himself into. "And when I finally saved up enough money to see a sorceress, what did I get? She couldn't send me back - I was stuck here permanently." He stood up and pointed a finger at Seth, who flinched. "Why should he get a second chance, get the ability to go between worlds at will, when I have no such privilege? My parents were still in Aboveground, I loved them, but I never got to see them again. That witch's powers reach out from the grave, binding me here, no magic in either world can undo it." He sobbed, and dropped to the floor, arms clutched over his stomach. His shoulders shook as he kept crying. "I don't have that ability, I'm not going to give it to someone else! And won't it be kinder to kill him, when he won't be able to see his love? Wouldn't it be kinder to end his life myself rather than wait for him to do it, kinder to kill him in the gas chamber than make him slit his wrists to end his agony?"
Malferz reached out to touch Raphael's shoulder, he knocked her hand away. She gritted her teeth and slapped him. Startled, he pressed his hand to his face, sobs disappearing. Tears ran down his face, but he was too shocked to make any noise. "So you're going to do the same fucking thing to Seth that was done to you?" Malferz asked coldly, glaring at him, hands on her hips. "Oh, real mature. You keep saying you're not a kid but you're sure as hell acting like one," she snapped. She pivoted and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. One of the hinges fell off.
Raphael kept his hand over the stinging place where she'd slapped him. He stared at the door for a moment, eyes dull. Seth pushed himself off his chair and stumbled after Malferz. "She's going to rip a wall down unless someone stops her," he said, leaving the room. He shut the door very quietly behind him, which wasn't an easy job. With the missing hinge it was hard. But he finally managed to do it, and Jareth looked at the door, thinking to himself. Why did they have to leave me alone with this nutcase? How in the world do they expect me to talk myself out of this room? The damned kid is crying, what do they expect me to do?
"Is that what I'm doing?" Raphael asked, voice barely above a whisper. "Have I turned into that witch?"
"Yes," Jareth said bluntly.
Sighing, Raphael fell back on his haunches. "I became a judge so I could control things, here in Underground," he said, wiping his face off with his sleeve. That had been an embarrassing episode. He felt naked, even in his restricting judge's robe. "Because when I got here, I couldn't control anything. Not why I came, not getting back, not what happened to me now that I was in a foreign dimension." His chest still ached from the sobs. He'd never get over this humiliation. He looked down, ran his hands through his hair, imagined blood on his skin. He needed a fix. "Seth had that for the last year. But at least he had someone who cared about him. And let's face it, Karleigh can't solve the Labyrinth by herself. And her surrogate runner is a joke, she's never going to solve it either. So Seth is doomed to stay here. And since he's a criminal, he must be dealt with.
"You think I'm being mean to him? I can't let him have all the things you've asked for. I became a judge to control things, to keep things in order. Overturning his conviction completely would destroy that. But I know putting him in jail here, or assigning him to another author, would be torture. I'm not inhuman. I have a heart." He stood up, and looked the Goblin King square in the eye. He showed no sign of the breakdown moments earlier. "Killing him is infinitely kinder than condemning him to endless suffering in jail or under the command of another person in Museship. It will keep him from despairing over his lost love for the rest of eternity. Someone should've done it to me a long time ago."
Jareth, bored, summoned up a crystal. He played it over his fingers, and sighed. "Listen, I know you're a masochist, but don't you think this is going a little far?" He slid off his jacket while still keeping the crystal rolling over his fingertips. "I know you're living vicariously through Seth, but this self-destructive streak in you should stay limited to you." He glared at Raphael, and the judge wilted. "You're the most pathetic person I think I've ever met. You've been interested in Seth's case from the beginning," he said, taking a few steps towards Raphael. "You made sure Seth was placed with an author who had a heart. You made sure he wouldn't be miserable when he went to this other dimension." He took a couple more steps. "You were trying to give him the chance you never had. And he's thrown that back in your face, hasn't he? He got back here and he intends to stay, and you can't take that." Taking a deep breath, Jareth crushed the crystal in his gloved hand. He opened his fingers and the shiny dust floated to the floor. "You see that as a failure, don't you? And since you see yourself as him, you're trying to punish yourself with this death thing." He blew a small stream of air at his hand, and the glass dust swept onto Raphael's face, into his eyes. "Well, listen to this, Your Honor."
Jareth grabbed Raphael's collar and lifted him off the ground. "You are not Seth. You are never going to get back to Aboveground. And you are not in any way responsible for your lineage. Don't let your blood define you," he said, throwing Raphael to the ground. He stepped on the boy's chest, and dug the heel of his boot into his ribs. "Act above what those common superstitious peasants thought you were, do something honorable. You say you're humane, act it." He kicked Raphael in the side, scowled, and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The other hinge broke off with the force of the blow, and the door fell down.
The next person to walk through the door made Raphael gape. "Oh, fuck," he muttered.
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"Malferz, stop it," Seth said, running down the hall after her. He was running mostly because the carpet was on fire. Every step Malferz took left the floor smoldering, every time she brushed up against a tapestry or a painting, the fabric turned to black ash, or the paint began to melt. Seth practically skip down the hall to avoid having his shoes catch on fire. "Damn it girl, stop right there!" he yelled. She ignored him. Coming to a staircase, she hopped onto the banister and used it like a slide. Seth stared after her, scowling. "Oh come on," he muttered. "You have got to be kidding me." He stared at her, as she continued to slide down the dark wood banister. "You're not going to make me do it," he called. He started jogging down the stairs.
She stuck her tongue out at him and kept her grip on the banister light. "You're no fun," she said. The finishing on the banister started to melt, and dropped to the stone step in large, hot blobs. She got ahead of herself a little and the finishing in front of her started to melt, too, burning her legs a little as she slid by. She fell off the banister and quickly scraped the finishing of her thighs, before it could cool and harden. Seth finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, and tackled her. She glared at him but didn't fight back, knowing he'd just chase after her again. "Okay," she said, closing her eyes. "Go ahead. Give me a speech."
"No," he said, kissing the bridge of her nose, right between her eyes. "I need you to give me a speech." He rolled over, laid down on the floor next to her. Sighing, he propped his feet up on the bottom step and crossed his arms over his chest. "What do I do, Mally?" he asked, swallowing hard.
"You put that nickname in Nor's head?" she asked, sitting up.
He glared at her. "This isn't the time," he said. "I need you to tell me what to do. I've got maybe six hours left with Karleigh before your lawman boyfriend carts me off to the Justice Building in Capitol. What do I do?"
She straddled him and punched him in the stomach. "He is not my fucking boyfriend."
"I didn't say you were having sex yet," Seth drawled. It earned him another punch in the stomach, he winced, and drew his legs up a little. "Okay okay I take it back," he muttered. "But I need your advice, as a woman," he said, grabbing her arms. "If your boyfriend were about to die, and you only had a few hours left with him, what would you want to do?"
Malferz raised her eyebrows. "So, you're Karleigh's boyfriend now?" she asked. Seth frowned and pinched both her arms, making her cry out. "Fine, fine," she said. She sighed and thought about it for a moment, eyes staring into some fantasy time and place. "Honestly?" she asked, rolling off of Seth. She crossed her legs up underneath her and combed her hair behind her ears. She rested her chin in her hands, propped her elbows on her knees. "I'd want him to take me dancing," she said, softly, closing her eyes. "I'd want him to insist that I dress up, and dress up himself, and I'd want to go dancing by some lake or river or ocean or something. Complete privacy, not some club." She sighed. "Just the two of us."
"You think Karleigh would like that?"
"I don't know a woman who wouldn't."
Seth sat up and stared at Malferz. "Can't you do something to get Raphael to change his mind?" he asked.
"I could kill him," she suggested. Seth shook his head. "Right," Malferz said, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "He'll be investigated." She thought for a few minutes. "I'd torture him, but, well, he'd only like it. Looks like you're a goner, buddy," she said, smiling at Seth.
"Fuck you," he muttered, laying back down.
She rolled her eyes. "I got over you a long time ago, thanks," she said.
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"Hey-lo!"
Jareth froze. He was lounging in his throne, occasionally kicking at goblins and chickens that hadn't found their way into the stew pots of the kitchen yet. He'd been anxiously playing with three crystals, presently they all fell to the floor, popping when they hit the stones. He would've been twisting his riding crop around but Malferz still had it, he was really going to have to steal that back. After he dealt with this… unexpected guest.
"Jareth!" the voice crooned. "Oh Jare-eth!"
Four echoes of four feet crossing the floor. Jareth swung his legs over the arm of his throne and planted his feet firmly on the floor. He braced himself and smiled, without humor. "Guards," he said, looking down at his goblins. The goblins who were currently holding weapons scrambled in front of the throne, and saluted. Jareth stood up and started walking along the row, kicking every one of them to the floor. "Aren't you even the least bit capable of doing your jobs?" he demanded, growling under his breath. "Can't you carry out the simplest commands? All I ask of you," he said, scowling. "Is to make sure I know when people are coming up here. And you let these two slip right into this room, you disgust me."
"I thought I disgusted you, Jareth," Raphael said, halting just in front of the throne.
"You both do," Jareth said, nodding at his guests. "You, Judge, and you, Lady," he said.
Lady Rachelle smirked and giggled. "You forgot, I've gone through the Labyrinth almost more times than you have. True, I had Seth with me," she said, voice cracking on the name. "But I made it through myself." She made a weightlifting motion with her arm, smiled broader and giggled again. "Tougher than I look."
"This presents an interesting barrier to you," Jareth said, looking at Raphael. "Looks like Rachelle just won Seth back for Karleigh," he murmured. "Kinda puts a stopper on the whole death sentence, don't it?"
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Kerist: Whoa, what the hell did I do to Jareth? Was that a tough-love father there with Raphael or a disturbing bully older brother? Or was he just looking out for his dear childhood friend, Seth? Tee hee. And poor tormented Raphael. I'm so mean to my characters. They're gonna beat me up one of these days. Anyway. I have a question! I'm thinking of doing a sequel (I have thought of a plot, gasp) and I want to know what you guys think of it. Keep in mind that my muse(aka Seth)has stolen from me the ability to summarize an entire plot in a couple of sentences, so this isn't very good:
Karleigh and Seth are in Underground when he is called to repay a favor. Karleigh meets his parents, and Jareth's old babysitter, while he risks jail time. This is one vacation to end in definite surprise for everyone...
Tentative Title: Vacation Underground. But if you have any ideas, they are very much welcome! Titles and summaries are hard! Anyway, wonderful, wonderful reviewer recognition time!
Fou Fou: Yay, I didn't kill my leading man! Cause if I did, I'd be mobbed. Hehe nah I was never gonna kill him. Thanks so much for reviewing!
BlueyChan: Ah, hope you liked the back story on Raphael, who for some odd reason I keep calling Rachelle. Thanks a ton for the review!
Princess-RainbowRose: 'You have Seth and Kerist dating,' huh? I think Karleigh'd get a little jealous if I started dating Seth. And after all I've done to the poor guy, he'd probably kill me halfway through our first date. Haha just poking at you. I can do that since you're such a faithful reader! Thanks so much for encouraging me all this time!
sych77: Your review was awesome, so my response will be long. Black holes are gravity, they're collapsed stars. I think I remember that from Magic School Bus. And, no, I never clean my room. I hate cleaning. I just kind of stuff everything under my bed. But thanks to Oust, no more rotting flesh smell! Love Oust. And I figure Jareth's the kind of person who's only nice to his friends… and a bastard to everyone else. I mean, look how he treated poor dear Hoggle. I can't picture Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka… it's like picturing Edward Scissorhands running a chocolate factory. Though I don't think there's much difference between Jareth's goblins and Wonka's oompah-loompahs.
And I am so signing all my friends' yearbooks with Brilliance Incarnate. In fact, I'm signing everything with that now. Letters, emails, website comments, police statements… :cough: anyway. Thanks so much for the awesome review!
LadyLuck321: I love seeing people with Muses! Looked at your profile and CreativeImagination's, I love the idea of a Muse adoption service! And so does Seth!
Seth: No. I don't. I'd much rather go back to Underground. You're a terrible author to be a Muse for. You keep abusing me.
Kerist: Tough luck, you're mine now. And where do you think I got the idea to put you in my story, huh? It had to be you! Mwahahahah! (I really laugh like that. Sigh.) Anyway, thanks so much for reviewing!