Chapter Three
Realizations
Sarah woke finding herself no longer in her room. Finding she was no longer in her bed. She froze and looked around. Stone walls, flowing curtains, and a large ebony clock that ranged from one to thirteen.
"Oh damn," she whispered.
"Finally awake I see," Jareth's voice was rich and laced with a British accent.
"I suppose you lied about that whole, not holding me accountable thing," she murmured. His smile answered her question for her and she lowered her eyes. "Yeah, I figured."
"Don't be bitter Sarah," he sighed, playing with is glove "as long as your Aboveground you hold power over me. Here… well here you don't. Here its very much the other way around."
"You're a bastard!" she snapped sitting up "you KNOW I didn't mean to do anything to you. And your still going to be a child about it. No, I refuse to play your stupid games Jareth. Send me home right now or I'll-"
"Or what Sarah?" he asked eyeing her "I don't believe your in the position to chastise me. If anything you should be grateful…"
"Grateful?" she scoffed "for what?"
"For not turning you into a goblin for one!" he snapped "for not handing you over to that boyfriend of yours or worse. I could do plenty Sarah, by the law of my land."
"I don't LIVE in your land," she started.
"You do now," he growled "get used to it. Get used to be under my rule Sarah, because like it or not, I am your king."
"I liked you better as an owl," she mused.
"I warned you," he sighed "I told you once the spell was broken I wasn't going to be nice."
"Yeah well," her voice rose dramatically "I kinda figured you'd back off considering I helped you. But I suppose that was asking to much."
"I saved you, you saved me," he said "fairs fair. We were even, and that means I can do whatever I please."
"Apparently," she whispered and he took a step closer to her bed.
"Did you actually trust me?" he scoffed "Sarah, you know better than that. Surely, you know not to believe the evil goblin king. Surely you-"
"Are you bi-polar or something?" she snapped cutting him off "better yet, are you stupid? You could've woken me up and said, hey, you fixed it I'm gonna go home now. And I wouldn't have thought anything of you at all! It wouldn't had happened again. You just want to be an ass hole Jareth, that's all…"
"Get up and get dressed," he snapped "you've got work to do."
"NO!" she snapped "I am not a servant, I do not WORK for you. I helped you yesterday, why can't you just-"
"Because Sarah," he sighed, growing tired of the conversation "I choose not to."
"Well you better change you mind!" she snapped but he ignored her. "You can't just go and pull me out of my life Jareth, just because you want to."
"I did," he said simply. What could she say? He wasn't listening to her, not even giving her any slack. She made it easy for him the other day, not making him beg, not forcing him into anything, and he didn't have the decency to let her go. "I just did." Then he left and Sarah sat on the edge of the bed letting tears stream down her face.
"Now what," she whispered "I'm trapped."
"GET DRESSED," he ordered from the hall "MOVE IT."
"MOVE IT YOURSELF!" she shouted and he opened the door.
"Ok," he breathed and opened her closet "make it difficult then." He pulled out some clothes and laid them on the bed "don't make me Sarah." he watched her reaction, he could see fear but her pride covered it up. She glared at him. He sighed and snapped his fingers. Her clothes where changed instantly and her hair was pulled into a ponytail. She let out a sigh of relief but he grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her down the hall.
"LET GO!" she shouted and he froze, having an instant flashback of her boyfriend trying to make her kiss him. Why hadn't she kissed him? She wasn't really sick, it was a lie. She seemed to remember too, and she noticed Jareth looking at her. "What?"
"Yesterday when your boyfriend tried to-" he started.
"Because," she snapped and pulled her arm away "I didn't want to tick you off. Lot of good that did." She walked ahead down the hall, even though she didn't have a clue to where she was going.
"Sarah?" he asked, she detected a hint of compassion in his voice but glared at him angrily anyways.
"Yeah?" she growled. His expression changed to deeply annoyed.
"Your going the wrong way," he sighed and she rolled her eyes. She followed him a while and he came to the throne room. In the middle of the room was a bucket and a rag and a broom. "Clean it."
"Clean it," she repeated and he disappeared. She took three steps and looked up and bellowed as loud as she could. "If I thought badly of you before, I'm gonna despise you now!"
"I don't care," was her answer and she sighed. She grabbed the broom and started sweeping all the hay off the floor.
"Alright," she sighed "new rules. One, don't trust Jareth. Two, don't TALK to Jareth unless absolutely necessary. Three, next time you see an owl beat it over the head with something heavy. Four-" she went on for a while but forgot her annoyance and started daydreaming. She always daydreamed when she did chores, since there was nothing else to do. Sometimes she'd sing but… she didn't see that happening. A goblin went sprinting through the throne room with a bucket of water and dropped it at Sarah's feet.
"His Highness says yous gonna need dis," the goblin stuttered.
"Thank you," she sighed and tossed all the hay in a container. The goblin looked confused.
"Tank you to me, or him miss?" he asked.
"To you," she said quietly "I don't suppose I have anything to thank him about."
"Aw," the goblin blushed "yous welcome miss. Yous need any help?" Sarah looked down at the job ahead and shook her head.
"I'm sure you've got enough to do," she said simply "I can manage."
"If yous sure," he said and scampered off. About two hours later Sarah had finished and Jareth was watching her from the door way.
"Time may change me," she hummed "but I can't trace time." Jareth cleared his throat and she stopped singing and looked up.
"Are you done?" he asked.
"Depends," she muttered "if I say yes are you gonna fuck it up again?"
"Maybe," he said "depends on you."
"How so?" she asked tossing the rag in the bucket.
"Are you hungry?" he asked.
"I believe I explained my policy," she muttered.
"Just answer the question," he growled.
"I guess," she shrugged.
"Go get cleaned up," he said "you'll have lunch with me."
"No offence," she started "well, actually, never mind if I offend you or not. I don't wanna eat with you. Personally, I'm amazed I'm not screaming at you right now. And frankly, I don't see any other reason for me to eat with you rather than you wanting to drive me off the edge."
"Perhaps because I wish to make amends," he said.
"Oh yeah," she nodded "THAT'S it. You wanna be all nice now. No thank you. You have WAY to many mood swings for my taste. And I don't see how making me clean and then making me eat with you is going to make me any less pissed."
"Its not supposed to," he said "perhaps I like your company."
"Perhaps you can shove it," she growled "I'm not eating with you."
………………………………………………………………..
"I can't believe I'm eating with him," she muttered under her breath as she sat at the table. Jareth looked at her kindly and she sneered back at him.
"Come now Sarah," he sighed "eat something."
"I'd rather starve," she growled.
"If you don't eat Sarah I'll make-" he didn't get to finish because he was rewarded with getting hit with an apple. He paused and turned his head very slowly and glared at her. "Would you care to try that again?"
"I would but your paying attention now," she said with a grin.
"Don't start," he said and she looked around the table for something more damaging to throw at him. "Sarah…" She looked up at him.
"Can I be blunt?" she asked "your really getting to me. And I understand your all pissed off, but frankly, I didn't mean to do anything. And you KNOW it. And I think it's terrible that you'd steal me away from my home just because your pissed off and want to torment me into going insane."
"Are you done?" he asked.
"For the moment," she sighed.
"Are you going to eat something?" he asked.
"I think I'd rather pelt you with something," she muttered.
"You realize your being difficult?" he asked.
"You realize your being a prick?" he mused and he paused.
"I can make it much worse for you," he said.
"I know," she muttered.
"Don't you care?" he asked.
"Yes," she nodded "but it doesn't matter. I'm not going to conform to you just because your king. I'm not your subject, I'm not-"
"Your mine," he stood to his feet and her jaw dropped.
"That's possibly the worse thing I've ever heard in my life," she retorted. "And I am NOT yours. I don't belong to anyone, I'm"
"Say it," he demanded.
"It," she mocked.
"Sarah!" he shouted.
"Why!" she snapped "I realize words have a very big effect on you. You need to understand that humans say things all the time and we don't MEAN it. Even if I say it its not true. I don't believe it, I'd just be saying it because your making me. Just because you want it to be true doesn't mean-"
"I do not," he snapped.
"Then why do you say it!" she growled "OH MY GOD Jareth, I'm sorry. Is that what you want me to say? I'm sorry I bruised your precious ego, I'm sorry I beat your damn labyrinth. There. You win, you're the best, TA DE FREAKING DA. It wasn't personal or anything, I was just trying to get my damn brother back. I wasn't TRYING to hurt you, I didn't WANT to hurt you."
"You didn't hurt me," he snapped.
"Apparently I did!" she growled "because the only reason I see you doing this for is because you want revenge for me hurting you. Well I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He didn't say anything. "Jareth," her voice was understanding "I know your used to getting everything you want, and EVERYONE hates rejection… but you can't get worked up about it. Life isn't fair."
"Go away," he whispered.
"Jareth," she looked at him, and seeing him this way almost made her forgive him. Almost. She sighed at seeing his anger return and she nodded. "Alright," she said and went back to her room.
