A/N: I only got one more review, but it was enough to keep me going. Thanks V, I 'm sorry if it's hard for you to read. It's hard for me to write, but it feels good too. I'm glad you like it, and I hope I continue to live up to your expectations.
Disclaimer: Oh, if only they belonged to me! Not Richard, though, this version of him. You can keep him.
Sarah was shocked to see the gun pressed against her father's forehead, shocked to realize it was her hands holding it. She saw the look of terror and disbelief in her father's eyes, and her hands started to tremble. She took a deep breath and steadied them. Whatever happens now, she thought, whatever you do to him, it's no more than he deserves.
Richard Williams looked up at his daughter's cold eyes, and saw rage, hatred, and just a little lunacy in them. She's insane, he thought, she's gone completely mad. Well if she has you drove her there, another part of him chided. He hushed that voice; he hated that voice. It was smug and didn't understand anything. No one understood the kind of pressure he was under all the time. Karen certainly didn't, just as Elizabeth never had. He had thought Sarah did, that they had a special bond, but she had proved to be no better than her mother. Now he had a second chance, though, with his darling baby girl. And here Sarah was, trying to turn even her against him. He felt rage boiling in his cheeks. He just wouldn't have it!
"Put the gun down, young lady!" he commanded. To his surprise, Sarah's eyes actually became darker, and she responded by cocking the gun with her thumb. "Why should I, Daddy?" she responded. Richard felt sick. One wrong move and the gun would go off. Perhaps he should try a different tack.
"Please, baby girl," he said, "Please. I never meant to hurt you, you know that. I love you. I've always loved you. I only wanted to be close to you. Maya understands, don't you Maya?" Both of them shifted their eyes to look at the tiny girl huddled in the corner of the bed, as far away from both of them as she could get and still cover herself with her blankets. Her eyes were wide with fear, and Sarah realized that she was afraid of her.
"Maya, baby, it's okay. Don't worry, sweetheart. I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again." She said, trying to comfort the child.
"Maya, tell Sarah you're okay! Tell her not to hurt Daddy!" Richard pleaded. Maya looked from one to the other, the two people she loved most in the world. She didn't understand what was happening, she only knew her daddy was hurting her, and that Sarah had stopped him. But this was daddy. She loved daddy, she didn't want Sarah to hurt him either. Tears welled in her eyes and she crouched lower in the corner, not knowing what to do.
"Don't use her like that, you son of a bitch!" Sarah growled through clenched teeth. "You manipulated me all my life, you used me for your own sick needs and you didn't care how I felt. You won't do it to her; I won't have it, I WON'T LET YOU SHATTER HER TOO!" She would end it now; the bastard would never hurt anyone ever again! She felt herself squeezing the trigger when suddenly there was a hand on her arm. She closed her eyes and in her minds eye HE was there, dressed as she remembered him, all in regal black with a cape flowing around him. His hair was wild and carefree, his eyes intent.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked her gently.
"Are you my conscience now?" she wondered. He began to walk slowly around her. She realized they were standing on the red dirt hill at the start of the Labyrinth. Behind them was the very same scrub tree she remembered from so long ago. It occurred to her to wonder if she had gone mad, if she were making this entire thing up in her head. Perhaps she was really locked in some institution somewhere, and this was all a dream brought on by Thorazine.
"I assure you, this is all quite real," he said as though reading her thoughts, "and I hope to have the chance to explain it to you. But for now, young Sarah, it seems you have a choice to make."
"He deserves to die!" she sobbed, and noticed for the first time that she was crying, and had been since she walked in the door. It was the child inside her crying, she realized. The child whose innocence her father had stolen. She wiped the hot tears away, still holding the gun steady with her right hand.
"Perhaps he does," the Goblin King conceded, "Perhaps he does indeed. But now Sarah? And by your hands?" He gestured towards Maya, a thin and waivery ghost in this vision, but there, and looking at her with pleading eyes. "She's young enough; she could forget what he's done to her in time. It's not too late, the damage could be undone. But if you do this, she won't forget. She will live forever with the memory of her sister killing her father, and she will blame herself. Can you live with that? Remember, Sarah, what's done is done."
He's right, she thought, God damn him, the bastard's right. She opened her eyes and he was gone. So was the hill and the tree and all that was left was the dark room and the two other people in it. For a long moment she held the gun steady, wanting desperately to pull the trigger, to make him pay. And then she slowly released the hammer and put the gun down at her side.
Richard breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived, as he saw Karen enter the room with Toby behind her. How long had she been outside the door, he wondered. Then he saw the look in his wife's eyes and realized she had seen and heard everything. "Karen..." he breathed. She shot him with a cold glare and ran to throw her arms around her baby girl.
Karen's mind was racing. She had awakened to the sound of voices down the hall. When she rolled over she realized Richard was not next to her, so she had gotten up to see what was going on. She had been standing outside of Maya's room, had seen Sarah there with the gun pointed at her husband, and had nearly rushed in to stop her when she heard the conversation. The words were like heavy weights, and she had had trouble grasping their meaning all at once. But then she really looked at the scene, and together with the words that were being spoken realization had crept in. How long has this been going on? Am I blind? How could I not have known? She had looked down to see Toby standing next to her, and realized that he was terrified. She reached down and squeezed his hand. "What's Sarah doing, Mom? " he had whispered. She had tried to smile reassuringly, but knew it had probably looked more like a grimace. "What she feels she has to do, I think, Tob." she had answered. She had been relieved when Sarah lowered the gun, but had fought the urge to take it from her and finish the job herself. Now she was in the room with Maya in her arms and Toby joined her from the door way. The three huddled in the corner and stared at Richard expectantly.
"How long…?" she asked aloud, not knowing to whom exactly she had posed the question. It was Sarah who answered.
"From before I was Maya's age until I was fifteen and strong enough to stop him." she explained.
Karen's jaw dropped, as a million things clicked in her mind and started to make sense. This is why Sarah had been so withdrawn and moody. Why she had had no friends to speak of. All this time she had thought the girl was angry with her for marrying her father. She never knew she had had so much bigger problems. Tears streamed down her face. What had this child faced, what had she gone through, with no one there to protect her? She cursed herself again for being so blind. And was this why she had stayed home for so long? Had she been watching over Toby and Maya? Of course she was. She looked at Sarah with awe. She was so young; it must have been such a burden to carry all alone.
"Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me what was happening?" she asked.
"Would you have listened?" There was no malice in the words, only resignation. Karen realized that she had never really been there for this little girl, not one time in all of her life, and she was overcome with regret. She reached out now for Sarah, threw her arms around her, as both women let their tears flow freely.
Richard saw his opportunity and deftly snatched the gun from Sarah's limp hand. Sarah withdrew in shock as she saw the tables were turned and the gun was now pointed at her. "My god, Richard, what are you doing?" she heard Karen ask. But she knew. She saw the look in her father's eyes, and she knew what he was thinking. She was a mistake, a loose end that needed to be tied up.
"I let you get away with that little display when you were fifteen," he explained, "and it went to your head. I should have known better, I should have put a stop to it then. Now look what you've done!" He motioned toward Karen and the children, clinging to each other on the other side of the room. "You've disrupted the entire family. Things will never be the same and it's all your fault."
Although she knew she was about to die, Sarah still marveled at her father's words. Did he really believe what he was saying? Did he really see her as the villain in all of this? She supposed he did, and reasoning with him would do no good. She cursed herself for not pulling the trigger when she had the chance. She didn't mind dying so much, but what would he do to Karen and Toby when it was done? And what would become of Maya? Somehow, she didn't think he would kill her. No, what he would do to her would be far worse. She looked into her father's eyes, and suddenly couldn't remember what she had ever seen there that was redeeming. Such a pity, really, for she had loved him once.
'Of course you did, but he was never worthy of your love, Sarah.' She heard the words in her mind just as the hands came down to rest over hers. She was comforted, but more was needed. Please, she thought, please, whatever happens, don't let him hurt them. She was crying, but not for herself. She saw her father cock the gun, and waited for the pain that was sure to follow.
'He doesn't have to hurt any of you, you know. You can stop it. All you have to do is say the words.' Sarah suddenly let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. Of course! The words! She couldn't believe she was even considering it, but it was the only chance, now, wasn't it? She opened her eyes and smiled coldly. "I don't think so, daddy." she said.
Richard didn't like her tone. He was missing something. "What..?" he started but she cut him off.
"I WISH THE GOBLINS WOULD TAKE YOU AWAY RIGHT NOW!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She laced every word with the rage she felt for the loss of her childhood, for the theft of Maya's innocence, for the tortured look in those tiny eyes of iron grey. "RIGHT NOW GOD DAMN IT!"
A cold wind began to circle around the room, slowly at first, but growing, howling in the rage it shared with Sarah. Richard looked around in confusion, the gun forgotten and limp in his hands. He tried to scream over the sound of the wind, but it was no use. Suddenly, in the space of a heartbeat, the wind was gone, and so was he. In his place, the Goblin King stood, looking exactly as he had that night seven years ago, when she had wished away her brother. The two only stared at each other. All anger or malice she had ever felt towards him had long since faded. Now she didn't know what to feel. He had helped her, been there for her at every turn, but she still didn't know why.
It didn't matter though, because it was over. Her father was gone, he could never hurt her or Maya or anyone else again. She was suddenly very tired, so tired her legs couldn't hold her, and she pitched forward towards the ground. Just as always, the hands were there, but this time they were warm and soft and connected to two strong arms. The Goblin King lowered her gently to the floor, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "Jareth…" she whispered, "Thank you." She just had time to notice the blood on his tunic before consciousness left her. In the confusion of the howling wind, she hadn't heard the shot, hadn't felt the bullet pierce her side. She lay now, in a pool of her own blood, the Goblin King's arms around her, his tears spilling onto her face, as he cursed himself for being too late.
