Kerist: Ahh, last chapter! Sorry if that was a bit confusing on the previous one. This is the ending to Innocent Musings, I swear! I know the update was fast (just a few hours) but I just felt I had to write it. It was either this or my AP paper (which is due in like 4 days, damn it, I really need to start that) so I chose this, of course. I'm a procrastinator and I really need to stop it. Anyway.
It's been a long road. Seven months! Wow. One last shout out to the reviewers of this story, thanks so much for sticking with me even when I got insane! Hope you come around for the next one, and maybe I'll attract some new people too!
Disclaimer: For the last time, don't own Labyrinth.
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I woke up, feeling dazed. My face was caked in dried tears. Scowling, I rolled onto my back, which had finally stopped aching. Seth was sitting on the end of the tiny bed, arms crossed over his chest. For a second I just stared at him. His head was tilted down, and it took me a moment but I realized he was sleeping. A smile crossed my face, and I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I watched him sleep, and thought about what I was going to do. He'd be dead soon, gone from my life forever. What was I going to do without him?
For one thing, I'd be alone a lot more. My friends and I weren't exactly the most exciting people, maybe I'd have to start asking for an allowance so I could go out on the weekends. Or I could join a club. The creative writing club, maybe. They probably wouldn't have too much patience for fan fiction though. I slammed my hands over my eyes. No, something completely different than writing, something that won't remind me of Seth at all. Sniffling, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stumbled up. But I stood too quickly and ended up falling into Seth.
Startled, he jerked awake just as I fell into his lap. We stared at each other for a minute before I buried my face in his shirt. He put his arms around me and we just sat there. Once he tried to say something but ended up losing his voice. I swallowed hard and rested my head on his shoulder. He was wearing a new shirt, another white one without the wine stain. Suddenly the silence was too much for me. "Is he going to let you have a last request?" I asked. It was the only thing I could think to say.
Seth gave me a weird look. "I don't know," he said, tucking my hair behind my ears.
"You could ask for a new trial," I said, slowly realizing I was really sitting in his lap. One of his hands was on my hip, the other on my shoulder. I felt weird, like some sort of stuffed animal or something. "Or a new judge." I frowned and shook my head. "I don't like Raphael. He's… he seems too personally involved in this. His reasoning didn't seem to have anything to do with the law."
"It's been so long since the last trial, I doubt I'd get any punishment at all," Seth mused. "Time passes faster in Underground," he added, and I rolled my eyes. "I guessed that," I said. He glared at me, but the glare quickly faded into a tired smile. "I wish I hadn't been so mean to you earlier," he said, sighing. My stomach twisted into a knot, and I gulped. "We never would've ended up in this mess if it wasn't for me," he said, lightly brushing his lips against my cheek.
My heart jumped to my throat. "I made the wish," I whispered. "It's my fault."
"No," Seth said, nuzzling my neck. "It's Rachelle's fault. You would've made it through the Labyrinth in no time if she hadn't gotten involved," he said. I absentmindedly ran my fingers through his hair, something I'd always wanted to do but never gotten up the courage to. He smirked at me.
"Jareth said he gave me so much time because of what you told him," I said. "What, did you two email each other while you were in Aboveground?" I asked.
"Yeah. You want his email address?" he asked. "Or better yet, his fanfiction penname?"
I gaped at him. "Jareth writes fanfiction about himself?" I asked. Seth grinned and nodded. I started laughing, mostly because I could completely picture that. I bet they were all Sarah romances. I wondered if he was any good at writing. Hell, I'd read his stories if I had the chance. They'd be hilarious. I kept laughing, eventually so hard that I started crying. Seth held me against his chest until the laughing stopped. But, unfortunately, the tears kept coming. I grabbed Seth's shoulders and dug my fingers in so hard he winced.
"Kar," he mumbled, prying my hands off him. "Don't cry, please." He wiped as many tears as he could off my face, using both hands. I couldn't, though. It was too hard, I needed to cry. Didn't he get it? In maybe just a few hours he was going to die, for one of the stupidest reasons I'd ever heard. So what if he stole something? Put him on parole, don't kill him! But I couldn't say this, the tears were too thick. "Stop," he ordered, grabbing my chin. "I can't be strong for you if you don't stop this, Karleigh."
Someone cleared their throat. We both looked up at the doorway, to see Raphael standing there. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and his face was bright pink. We stared at him and he stared at us. Then Rachelle popped up behind him, wearing a new gold dress. Seth pushed me off his lap and stood up. In spite of myself I grabbed onto the end board of the bed, the memories of the mirrored room and the jungle all rushing back to me.
"Um…" Raphael said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Apparently I picked a remarkable surrogate runner for Karleigh," he said. "She, well, she's here," he said, looking over his shoulder at Rachelle. His shoulders were slumped, and he looked absolutely floored. Rachelle was swaying back and forth, and kept giggling. She raised her hand and waved at Seth, in one of those bubblegum wiggle-your-fingers moves. She bit her lip and looked down shyly. I was gripping the bed hard enough that my hands hurt, and Seth had his hand on his hip like he was about to unsheathe a sword. "So… Seth… um…"
"Lord Seth," Rachelle corrected him. She blushed and tried to hide behind Raphael, but since she was over a foot taller than him it didn't work very well.
Raphael choked. "Yes," he said, weakly. "Lord Seth," he said, and he had to spit the words out. "It seems the only person I'm going to be punishing is Lady Rachelle here." And he seemed devastated about it, too.
"Awwww…." Rachelle said. She put her hands on Raphael's shoulders and kissed his cheek. He gritted his teeth and his hands dropped to his sides, curled up into fists. "Pretty please be nice?" she asked, hugging him against her. I hate to say it but she practically suffocated him in her chest. He tried to push back but she'd lifted her up off the floor. "I wasn't so bad, was I?" she asked, her voice high and whiny. Seth growled, and his hand dove into his pocket. I half expected him to pull out a gun, but he discovered he had nothing in his pocket, much to his disappointment.
"Put him down," Seth said. Rachelle stuck out her lower lip but obliged. Raphael, shaking, stumbled away from her, nervously smoothing out his robe and his hair. Seth huffed and grabbed the young judge's shoulder. "So you're telling me that Karleigh and I can go home in one piece?" he asked. I slid off the bed and walked over to him, lightly putting my hand on his arm. I was kind of scared he'd kill Raphael. "You're going to leave us alone now?" Seth asked, shaking Raphael. The kid pushed Seth's hand off and nodded, his blush finally fading. "So you and Rachelle are going to be leaving?" Seth pressed.
I looked at Rachelle, who was sucking on a curl of her hair. She smiled weakly at me and waved, another finger-wiggle thing. I glanced at Seth, who was having a staring contest with Raphael, and inched away from him, towards Rachelle. My heart hammered as I walked over to her, but from the memories, not from any look or sign she was giving me. She giggled again when I finally stood next to her. "Hi Rachelle," I said, slowly.
She giggled. "Hi Karleigh. M'sorry if I scared you."
I stared at her. "What happened in the Labyrinth?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. She shrugged, and started tugging on the skirt of her dress. I looked closer at it, and was startled. The skirt was poofy, but from ruffles, not the hoops she'd been wearing before. And it had straps over her shoulders, and she was wearing a gold-colored shirt underneath it. And her shoes had button straps, where I had expected slippers. She was dressed like a little kid. "Rachelle?" I asked. I laid my hand on her shoulder and she started sucking on her hair again. I looked over my shoulder. Seth and Raphael were gaping at me. "She seems different," I said by way of explanation.
"Well, she's not trying to kill you," Seth said. He took a few steps in our direction.
Raphael scratched his neck. "Jareth's guards were monitoring her progress," he said. "But they lost her for about ten minutes, halfway through. When they found her again she was moving much faster," he said. Seth grabbed my hand and pulled it off Rachelle. He glared at her, and she backed up against the doorframe, whimpering quietly. "Something happened to her while she was missing," Raphael said, softly. "She's become… childlike. Of course, we can't put her in jail like this," he said.
"Sure you can," Seth muttered. I elbowed him in the stomach. He scowled at me.
"She'll be put in solitary at a mental asylum," Raphael said. Rachelle didn't act like she understood what was going on here, how the men in the room were talking like she wasn't even there. "A little white room with a tiny bed, which she'll be strapped to at night. We can't have her hurting herself."
"I beg to differ," Seth said. "I think she's faking it."
I looked at Rachelle. She looked innocent, of all things. "No," I said, tilting my head to the side. There was nothing behind her eyes, it seemed like everything had been wiped away. "No, I think it's real. Someone did something to her," I mused. Seth slid his arms around my neck, and kissed the top of my head. I kept staring at Rachelle. Whoever did that to her… had to be even worse than she had been, more powerful even. I thought about it for another minute, and could only come up with one suspect.
The Goblin King.
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Jareth watched as Seth poured his third glass of wine. Karleigh regarded him with a measure of disapproval, but she didn't say anything. Jareth had a glass in his hand, but he hadn't taken a sip of it since the meeting began. He swirled the wine around, watching the pattern of the whirlpool he created. "So, you're going back to Edoc?" he finally asked, raising the glass to his lips for the first time. He tipped the glass but only a few drops fell into his throat.
"For a while, yes," Seth said, downing half his drink. Next to him, on the little red loveseat Jareth had carefully arranged in his throne room, Karleigh rolled her eyes. The floor of the room was clean, for once, and all the goblins had been ordered to stay out for the next few hours. "Karleigh's got eleven days left, now," Seth went on. "We're going to stop by the estate so I can check up on things, but I want to show her around Capitol."
"Such a creative name," she remarked.
Jareth smiled and set his glass down. "Well, Raphael and Rachelle left a few hours ago, if you didn't notice," he said, pulling off his lavender gloves. He laid the gloves over his knee and tapped the arm of his throne, thinking.
"It's been much quieter," Seth said. He reached out to fill his glass again but Karleigh grabbed the near-empty wine bottle and shook her head. "I don't care if you are a Fae," she said, glaring at him. "You've had enough of that for today." Seth sighed and drank the last few drops in his glass. He looked up at Jareth. "How's Malferz holding up?"
The King winced. "I have no idea where she is," he admitted. "She's taken Nor and run off into the Labyrinth. I can only hope it will still be there when she finally stops pouting." He shook his head and sighed. Then, suddenly, he stood up and started sliding his fingers back into his gloves. Seth sensed something and stood up too, pulling Karleigh up by the elbow. Jareth frowned and grabbed his jacket from his throne. "Someone has just made a wish," he explained, shaking his head. "I am not looking forward to the next thirteen hours."
"You need a body double," Karleigh said. Jareth laughed quietly and smiled at her. Malferz had lent her some clothes, simple beige drawstring pants, and a white peasant blouse with a beige string to tie up the front. She'd seemed more at ease since she'd been able to cover herself up. Jareth shook Seth's hand and summoned a crystal, which he handed to Karleigh. He smiled wryly and kissed her hand, noticing how closely Seth watched him do it. She looked at the crystal, intrigued. "The answers to all my questions?" she guessed, raising her eyebrows.
"You'll have to find those yourself, I'm afraid," Jareth told her.
She looked down at the crystal. "I need to ask you something…" she said, hesitantly.
Jareth bowed, chuckling slightly. "Anything," he said.
She swallowed and gripped the crystal bauble like a lifeline. "Did you… uh… did you do something to Rachelle while she was in the Labyrinth?" she asked, voice trembling slightly. "To make her like she is now?"
"Of course not," Jareth said. "I have no idea what happened to her. Perhaps the Labyrinth was wreaking its revenge, hmm?" Karleigh looked at his eyes, trying to see if he was lying to her. She couldn't tell. He sighed and tugged on his jacket. "I must be going now," he said. "The goblins can only entertain this wisher for so long."
And with that, he disappeared.
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Seth helped Karleigh into the carriage. He nodded at the driver and stepped in himself, shutting the door behind him. Karleigh was already looking out the window. Seth rolled his eyes. "You've seen all this before," he said, settling himself down on the uncomfortable carriage bench. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he shook his head. "I shudder to think what you're going to be like when we get to my house, or Capitol."
The carriage started off. Karleigh watched the Labyrinth pass by outside the window. "Do you think Jareth was lying about Rachelle?" she asked, looking over hedges and walls, expecting to see somebody in a black cape hopping around, wiping people's memories and stealing brains. Seth didn't answer, and she turned around. He was looking at her, his eyes narrowed. He crossed his legs, leaned over, and shut the curtain on her window. "Seth," she said, laughing as he laid his arm over her shoulder and pulled her up against him.
"There's nothing out that window you need to see," he murmured, gently kissing her.
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The carriage left the Labyrinth's boundary, and bumped over the dirt road towards Edoc in the west. The air above the Labyrinth vibrated, and a wind rushed down over the hill. It curled around the wheels of the black carriage, slid through the hair of the horses, and knocked off the driver's cap. The driver scowled but didn't stop to pick up his hat. He clicked the reigns and sped the two horses up, taking solace in the rhythmic clopping of their hooves.
The wind circled the carriage, and if you looked closely enough, you could see sparkling dust, like glitter.
Miles head of that carriage, another one was plodding along, at a slightly slower pace. Inside Raphael watched Rachelle closely, ever amazed by the Lady's strange behavior. She was staring out the window, pointing out every farm animal and every passerby they happened upon. She didn't act like someone who was about to be committed to a mental asylum, or who had just tried to kill a teenage girl.
Raphael looked down at the bag in his hand. He thought about it for a minute, reached in, and pulled out a little glass container. He cleared his throat. "Rachelle," he said, reaching out with the container in his hand. "Since you've been so good, you can have this," he said. She looked at the container and back up slightly, her bottom lip trembling. "Rachelle?" Raphael asked. He looked down at the container and frowned. "It's makeup… I thought you would like it," he said. Something about her changed behavior made him want to pamper her a little. It was just weird.
The makeup in the container was clear, a lip gloss with glitter sprinkled through it. Rachelle knocked it out of Raphael's hands. It rolled around on the floor and under the bench. As soon as it was out of her sight, Rachelle relaxed and looked back out the window. "Look," she said, pointing. "What's that?"
Nerves grating, Raphael leaned over and looked out the window. His jaw dropped. "It's a cow."
There was one outside Seth and Karleigh's carriage, too, but the curtains on their windows were still drawn and they didn't see it. Karleigh was resting her head on Seth's shoulder, and he was staring at the ceiling. "How can I stay in Underground for so long?" she asked, tracing a circle in his white shirt. "I think my family might get worried," she said, looking up at her Muse. "If Jareth let them go from… wherever he put them."
"Time's stopped in Aboveground, basically," Seth said. "None will have passed when you get back."
Karleigh digested that. "When I get back," she said, softly. "You're not coming?"
Seth pressed his lips into a fine line. "I'll visit you, but for the first few months, I'll have to spend most of my time in Underground. I've been away for too long," he said, patting her hand. He didn't notice her sigh. "Raphael was so upset about Rachelle showing up that he signed off on everything we asked for." He looked at Karleigh and gripped her chin in his hand, smirking. "You can visit me, too, you know," he said.
"I know," she said, smiling back. "I'm looking forward to bugging you every weekend," she said.
"You can't come just to have extra homework time," Seth said. Karleigh playfully punched him in the shoulder. He sighed and leaned back on the bench. "Vacation Underground, here she comes," he murmured.
"You act like you don't want me there," Karleigh said.
Seth kissed her again. "Believe me," he said, taking her hands in his. "I do."
Yes, the glitter wind whispered. It curled away from the carriage and blew over the hills of Underground's countryside. It passed over humble villages and towering castles. Finally it came to a valley and plunged downwards into the shadows of the cliffs. At the bottom, in a mansion that seemed strangely modern for Underground, someone was waiting for it.
The wind blew the person's hair, leaving glitter on the short black strands. It left more glitter on the fabric covering his shoulders, and finally tickled his ear. They're going to Edoc, and then Capitol, it said. Then the air stilled, and glitter dropped to the ground. The man sighed, turned around, and walked towards the mansion in the distance, kicking up dirt as he walked. "Vacation Underground indeed," he murmured, ambling through a rose garden. "I think I may just take one myself."
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Kerist: Forgive me, I'm not good at endings. I was trying to have it lead into the sequel, where you'll find out who mysterious glitter man is. And which hopefully will have a more interesting ending than this one. Actually, I know it will. I'm very looking forward to it. (evil laugh)
To everyone who's been with me through this, and the people who've just reviewed one or two chapters (forgive me again, I'm watching the Oscars and feeling all sentimental even though I've seen about one of these movies. Go Lemony Snicket!):
Thanks so much for giving me your opinions on this story. I wasn't sure if I could take on the world of the Labyrinth and keep it in one piece. Maybe I didn't and you'll all point it out in anonymous reviews that I can't yell at you for, but I'm looking forward to making the sequel even better.