Chapter 3
A Fated Meeting
Fish Eye-
Fish was quiet while he and Tiger Eye looked for the girl, Sarah Williams. 'It's hard to believe that she's our Ringmaster.' Fish Eye thought. He remembered Ringmaster being so strong and confident. This girl seemed weak, like she was ready to be broken at the slightest gust of wind. 'She just seems so normal for a human. Except for her face that belongs to our Ringmaster.'
Looking over at his companion, Fish Eye was pleased that Hawk Eye had thought to send Tiger Eye with him. Though he was a sweet and had enough power to surpass most everyone at the circus but to also be counted as one of the strongest three, Tiger Eye wasn't a fighter. He simply didn't live up to his name sake. While the Tiger was a fierce and remorseless hunter, devouring anything it could get its teeth into, Tiger Eye would have preferred to show off his acrobatics to an applauding audience or go out for a good time with his friends. He certainly wasn't meek and by no means was he unable to fight; confrontation just wasn't in his nature.
"She's here." Tiger Eye suddenly stopped running and latched a hand onto Fish Eye's arm, pulling him to a stop, also. With his eyes wide, Tiger Eye looked around slowly at the strangers on the street and the buildings as if he could see through them. Fish Eye watched, fascinated, while Tiger Eye sniffed delicately at the air. "She just passed by. I can still smell her."
"How long ago?" Fish Eye asked. Though he might sometimes act a bit silly, Tiger Eye had the senses of the Tiger he was named for. He could smell his prey and once he'd met a person, he never forgot their scent. He was also never wrong about a hunt.
"Not long. A few minutes. She must be close." Tiger Eye wrinkled his nose again as he sniffed. "She met someone. One of those girls!" He sounded outraged and shocked. "That dark haired one!"
"Girl? You mean those senshi?" Fish Eye guessed, knowing that there weren't many human girls Tiger Eye would know the smell of. "The dark haired one has a fire magic, if I remember right. It could be dangerous." All ready thoughts of that senshi girl hurting the supposed Ringmaster was making Fish Eye angry and frightened.
"No." Tiger Eye said, more calmly. "They didn't stay together long." He walked slowly down the sidewalk, his face slightly tilted upwards, showing that he was following the scent as he walked. Fish Eye followed closely behind, trusting Tiger Eye to find the girl. "Sarah's safe." Tiger Eye stopped and stood in place for a moment. "Here. That senshi girl left here and Sarah went that way." He pointed down the sidewalk.
"Then that's where we go." Fish Eye said, determined. "We'll worry about that senshi another time. This is more important." He started off in the way Tiger Eye had indicated, but stopped when Tiger Eye didn't follow. "What's wrong?"
"Ummm. I think I forgot to mention something when I told you about Sarah." He looked at Fish Eye guiltily and wrung his hands like a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
"What could be more important than the fact she has someone living inside her who isn't Pegasus?" Fish Eye asked. Anything else could be dealt with after finding Sarah, but that whole thing about someone who could come in and out of people was a big problem. Especially if Sarah really was the Ringmaster reincarnated.
"Well," he looked around reluctantly, showing that he really didn't want to say what he had to.
Fish Eye glared at him suspiciously. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything, honest! It was those senshi girls."
"What about them?"
"I...I think they were watching when I saw Sarah and peeked into her soul mirror."
Fish Eye didn't say anything for a moment, considering the implications of this new information. "That's odd, isn't it? They didn't try to interfere or stop you?"
"No. One of them yelled about something, but by then that man had popped out of Sarah's soul mirror. The point is that they might have already spoken to Sarah about what's going on. She might be afraid of us."
Sarah-
Sarah ran from the scene of her attack as quickly as she could, very confused about what had happened. 'It was an attack.' Sarah told herself, desperately wanting to believe it. 'That blonde guy just stepped out of the shadows and...and...' Sarah's thoughts drifted away as she tried desperately to remember what had happened after that. There had been fear and a mild amount of pain and...and Jareth.
'Stop it!' Sarah scolded herself. 'I do not need daydreams of him! He's a kidnapper and he tried to kill me with the cleaners and he was awful to poor Hoggle.' She was desperately reminding herself of his bad qualities. 'It was a nightmare or something. Why else would I see him? He looked so angry, too.' Sarah didn't want to admit it, but she was more than a little afraid of Jareth when he was angry. Granted, she had never seen him angry when she was in the Labyrinth. Mildly irritated at the worst, but never really angry.
For only a very short time while her father was here on business, Sarah and her family were living in Japan. She had learned to speak Japanese, but her accent was terrible, or so she was told. She had been here long enough that she had heard the strange rumors about what was going on with monsters and the senshi warriors who seemed to be young girls. Was she getting involved in their battles? She couldn't possibly have anything to do with all this.
Sarah didn't see the girl she ran into, she was so lost in her own thoughts. They both grunted and fell onto the ground, landing painfully. Sarah looked up to find herself looking at a very pretty girl with long black hair and smiled sheepishly at the girl who looked remarkable like her.
"Sorry." Sarah mumbled, embarrassed. "I wasn't paying attention." She had learned that manners were very important to Japanese people and she was careful to mind what she said.
"No problem." The girl smiled sweetly. "I'm Hino Rei." She held out a hand and the two girls helped each other up.
"I'm Williams Sarah." She remembered to put her surname first to avoid confusion. "I had my mind on something else, sorry if you're hurt." Sarah apologized again.
"Forget it. Are you new in town?" Rei smile politely, as she looked Sarah up and down.
"Can't you tell by my accent?" Sarah laughed, putting on a happy face. It was an act she'd long since gotten used to. Act happy and everyone will believe it. Act sad and you'll just end up crying. Better to be happy and make people around you happy.
Rei blushed, but didn't look away. "I wasn't trying to be nosy. Hey," She smiled brightly at Sarah. "The accident was as much my fault as it was yours. To apologize, why don't you come to my home and I'll serve tea. I'm sure some of my tea and famous cookies will make it up to you properly."
As tempted as she was Sarah shook her head. "I can't, I'm afraid. I wish I could, but my folks are expecting me back soon. I've been gone to long as it is." Sarah started running the same way she'd been going before she'd run into Rei.
When Sarah left Rei was still smiling and waving after her. "Come see me soon, Sarah. At the Temple on the hill!" As Sarah walked around the corner, Rei's smile vanished.
Rei-
"Did you find out anything?" Usagi asked, suddenly at Rei's side. Rei turned to find all her friends now out of their senshi uniforms and in regular clothes. They didn't want Sarah to recognize them after what had happened in the park, even thought they weren't sure that she had even seen them.
Rei shook her head. "Not really, just that she's not from around here. She just said she was distracted and didn't see me. I was hoping she'd come back to the temple so maybe I could get a reading on her."
"That was really weird." Ami said, looking at her little computer. She stood with her back against a wall and didn't look up at them as she spoke, she was that certain that they would listen to her. "I've been studying some readings I took on that person who came out of the girl..."
"Sarah." Rei supplied.
"Sarah. It seems, he is not human, as much as he looks it. He is not a monster or demon, either. Nor is he anything we've ever come up against and the worst news is that he is so powerful, I can't tell what, exactly he is. All that power is like a smoke screen around him. We can see the basic shape, but we can't see the details."
Everyone was silent for a moment. "Who is he?" Usagi asked out loud. "A new enemy or ally or something altogether different."
Sarah-
Sarah was feeling much better now that she'd actually met someone normal who was so friendly. It wasn't enough to make her forget what had happened earlier, but she was smiling when she got home. Well...it was a temporary home, anyway. The apartment was dark and lifeless when Sarah looked up at it from the street level as she'd known it would be. Her father and stepmother liked to keep late hours at their parties and other business functions. For the good of her father's business, they'd started traveling the world shortly after Sarah's short adventure in Jareth's Labyrinth.
There was only one thing tying Sarah to her family and that was her brother, Toby. The only reason she hadn't run away when she was younger was because of Toby. He was three now, old enough to be frightened by the yelling and fighting. Sarah's only comfort in the whole thing was that they hadn't even tried to yell at Toby, let alone hurt him. The minute they tried, she...she...
They must have taken Toby along with them to whatever business function they were attending. Sarah had, just a short time ago, realized that Toby was used for little more than a convenient conversation piece. Everyone would 'Ohh' and 'Ahh' over the darling child while softening to Sarah's father. After all, he had to be a good man to raise such a sweet boy, Sarah thought sarcastically.
What would they do once Toby grew to old and didn't like being cute anymore? When he started rebelling as every kid, like Sarah, did at some point? He was already starting to want to stay home from the endless, dull parties his parents dragged him to and Sarah knew that a full blown temper tantrum wasn't far away. He was three. He was supposed to have temper tantrums.
Sarah really didn't know what she would do when that happened. She wanted to kill them, sometimes. Or just run away. Or kill herself.
'Oh, stop it!' Sarah flopped into one of their apartment's chairs and put her hands over her eyes as she waited for her parents and brother to get home. This day was to long. 'Can't start thinking like that again. It'll get me nowhere.'
Hawk Eye-
Hawk Eye appeared next to Fish Eye and Tiger Eye, peering up at the single light in the apartment window. "That's her, huh?" Was the first thing he said.
"Are you all right?" Tiger Eye asked, looking at Hawk Eye closely. "You don't look to badly hurt."
"Of course I'm not hurt." Hawk Eye lied. He was good at lying. "A mere slap on the wrist and Zerconia let me go." He didn't tell them about how he was still having a hard time seeing in the dim light or that he was having to strain to hear them. The pain near his heart was dulling, also, so he didn't bother to worry about that, either.
Hawk Eye peered into the window of the high-class house, hoping to get his friends attention away from him. "Fish, are you sure she's here?" He whispered to. The windows were darkened all except for a single, dim light and there was no sound. It was late so it was reasonable to think that everyone was asleep. Then again, it might have been that Hawk Eye's hearing was still a little off.
"Yes, we followed her after she bumped into that girl with the senshi girl." His eyes narrowed as he said viciously, "If I had time, I'd skin the fool for knocking Ringmaster over!"
It was obvious to Hawk Eye that Fish Eye, and probably Tiger Eye, were both convinced that this girl was their Ringmaster. "We don't even know for certain that she is Ringmaster. Let's not get our hopes up." The last thing Hawk Eye wanted was for his friends to be severely disappointed if they learned that this was just a regular, ordinary human girl.
"I KNOW she is Ringmaster!" Fish Eye told him haughtily. Both Tiger Eye and Hawk Eye rolled their eyes. There was no shaking him when he made up his mind as he was admittedly the most stubborn of the three. Again, Fish Eye looked up at the apartment windows. "I don't see anyone."
"Humans sleep at night, remember?" Hawk Eye reminded him. "We'll have to sneak in to be sure. Be careful, though. We don't want that man popping out again, whoever he was."
They found the pale girl asleep in a large chair and tip-toed closer to get a better look. She'd fallen asleep in her clothes with her legs curled up under her.
"It's her." Tiger Eye said. He squatted down until his nose was almost touching her face. "She smells a little different, but there's something the same about her." His face lit up with a brilliant smile when he looked up at them. "She's Ringmaster!"
"Hush!" Hawk Eye said sharply. "We don't want to wake her."
"But he's right." Fish Eye reached out his hands and ever so delicately ran his fingers over the sleeping girl's face as he closed his eyes. It was a way of seeing, or so Fish Eye had told them, once. He said he could see someone better if he could feel their face. Sarah didn't so much as twitch as Fish Eye's nimble, sensitive fingertips were exploring her face. "He's right." Fish agreed without opening his eyes. "There are differences, but I do believe she is Ringmaster."
Hawk said nothing, but stared intently at Sarah's face. Whether or not he believed, he kept his opinion to himself.
There was a noise downstairs and lights coming on in the hallway. "Come on!" Fish Eye said. "It's her family! We've got to leave."
They all left the way they came, through an open window, just in time to witness what was, in their eyes, sacrilege and an obscene defilement.
Sarah-
Sarah woke to the usual arguing.
"It's not my fault that she was wearing such a low cut blouse." Sarah's father protested against something his wife said.
Sarah rubbed her eyes to wake herself up and steeled herself for the usual nightly ritual.
"You didn't have to stare!" Sarah's stepmother snapped in reply. "Honestly, you embarrassed me in front of everyone! I don't even know why I come to those parties with you, you always do this!"
"Do what?" Sarah's father's voice dropped into a snarl. "I'm trying to get business done and all you can do is bitch and moan about what the other women do and are wearing! This is a big deal! Maybe the biggest of my life and you're not going to screw it up by throwing your jealously around like some mad cat!"
"A mad cat?!" Sarah's stepmother screeched shrilly. "How dare you! You're the one who can't control his hormones! If you think I'm going to let you get away with oogling that woman's cleavage just because she's the president of the local bank, you've got another think coming, you bastard!"
At that, the door swung open and Toby came barreling though, making a bee-line for Sarah. He jumped up on her lap and held on for dear life. Sarah grabbed him tightly and ran out of the room before the adults even walked in. She closed the bedroom door behind him just before her father and stepmother came in and leaned her back against it, as if afraid they'd follow her into the room she shared with Toby.
Toby whimpered in her arms. "Bed, Sarah. Wanna go to bed." Despite his words, Toby held Sarah as tightly as he could and Sarah knew she'd be sleeping with him again.
"Shhh." Sarah cooed, rubbing his back soothingly. "Okay. It's long passed bedtime, sweetie."
"You ugly bitch! Why did I marry you? I could have had myself some pretty little thing that wouldn't keep nagging and..."
"Don't you talk to me like that! Who do you think keeps all your books in the black? All those years I spend in that dingy little house, baby sitting your daughter, and making you as perfect as possible just to built up this business of yours! You low-life, how dare you talk to me like I was dirt!"
Sarah lay down on her bed and let Toby cuddle into her. There was no way to block out the noise from the other room, but she did the best she could and started to whisper to him, trying to keep his attention on her instead of the fight. "Do you want a bedtime story, Toby? How about a knight in shining armor or one about a troll?"
With his eyes full of tears of fear, Toby seemed to know what Sarah was doing. He had always been more perceptive than anyone gave him credit for. He put his chubby little hand on Sarah's face and petted her cheek. "Tell me about an king and a queen." Toby said and Sarah knew the one he was talking about. It was his favorite story.
The sound of breaking glass as something was thrown and shattered against a wall, making Toby jump and turn to look at the bedroom door with fear.
Sarah took his little face in one hand and turned it so he was looking at her again. "Keep looking at me, Toby. I'll tell the story if you try to sleep. The fight will end soon. It always does."
"Lazy bitch!"
"You'd be nothing without me!"
Toby hugged Sarah tightly enough that she almost had trouble breathing. "Story! Story!"
"Once upon a time," Sarah began, keeping her voice as soft as she could and speaking right into Toby's ear. She knew from experience if she held him closely enough that he could hear her heartbeat, Toby would fall asleep easier. "There was a handsome king and his beautiful queen. The lived in a far away magical land where there was always happiness and nothing bad ever happened. The king was a good, kind man and his queen loved him very much. The king and queen had a little son named Prince Toby. Prince Toby was a brave little boy and loved to ride horses. He was going to grow up to be kind, just like his daddy, and..." The story continued and Sarah started to rock Toby slightly, lulling him to sleep.
It was a simple story about a land where no one ever fought and no one ever yelled. To any adult, it would have seemed absurd and boring. To Toby, it was a vision of paradise and it was the only peace Sarah could give him right now. There was no plot to the story and it often changed depending on what was going on in Toby's life. Sometimes Prince Toby would go on a picnic with his loving parents when Toby's parents ignored him for to long. If Toby was having a hard day with this or that, Prince Toby would have an especially happy day playing with puppies and kittens.
Silly.
Simple minded.
Absurd.
Perfect.
Anything that could bring Toby at least a little happiness was perfect in Sarah's eyes. When Toby finally fell asleep, Sarah freed herself from his strangling arms, but held his hand for a while. It just wasn't right that the only happiness a three-year-old could find was in a story.
'Why did I fight so hard to get him back?' Sarah wondered. She looked out the window at the full moon. The night was getting late and it was almost morning. 'I should have left him with Jareth. At least as a goblin, Toby would have been happy. He wouldn't remember what was going on, but he'd be happy. All those other goblins were happy, after all. Maybe...' She looked back at Toby and felt a hard lump form in her stomach. 'Maybe I should call Jareth again. I could wish Toby away for good and not get him back. It would be for the best, really. I don't know what else to do for Toby.'
Sarah bit her lip to stop the tears that were forming. She didn't want to lose Toby, but...if it was for his own good, maybe she should.
When she was certain Toby was fast asleep, Sarah opened the bedroom door just a crack to peek out into the now silent outer room. The quiet had been so sudden that it was almost unnatural. 'Dad probably went out for a drink again and Karen probably went to bed.' That was what usually happened after such a big fight, anyway. To avoid more arguments, Sarah had gotten into the habit of cleaning up after the fights. She'd make it look like nothing had happened by morning before she left for school and took Toby to the local daycare and thus take away another reason to fight.
This night was different.
As soon as Sarah stuck her head out the door, another hand grabbed the door and flung it open violently.
"Karen? I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Sarah was more than a little surprised to see her stepmother hadn't gone to bed already. It was almost dawn, after all. Sarah fought down her fear, but kept herself as meek as possible. That usually kept Karen calm.
"It's all your fault, you know." Karen said bitterly. She took Sarah by the arm and drew her out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
"I'm sorry." Sarah apologized quickly, but not knowing what she was apologizing for. Whatever it was, Sarah was sure it would be best to keep Karen calm and happy for now.
"Sorry? You're sorry for ruining my life?" Karen was on the brink of exploding with anger and Sarah recognized the signs. That tiny little tick in the center of Karen's forehead and always started throbbing and she always balled up her left fist. "Sarah, if it weren't for you, I'm sure your father and I would have led a perfectly happy life. He wouldn't have had to spend so much money on you and we wouldn't have had to work so hard. You were always causing trouble and coming between us. And now you're taking my only son away from me! You think you can buy his love with your sweet words and little fairy tales. He's my son, Sarah! He's mine and he loves me, not you!" Karen raised her fist...
Locking the bedroom door behind her, Sarah crept back into bed. Toby was still there and Sarah draped one arm over him, finding comfort that he was safe and where she'd left him.
"Sarah sad?"
Now Sarah felt a twinge of guilt. "I'm okay. Go back to sleep, Toby. We've got school in a little bit and you need your sleep." She petted his hair.
In the darkness Toby's little fingers wiped the tears off her face. "Crying?" He kissed her cheek. "I'll tell a story, Sarah. Once upon a time was a sparkly man with long hair. He danced with princess Sarah and gave her peaches to eat. The sparkly man sang funny songs and let the little monsters play with the chickens."
As Toby's story continued, Sarah just lay there, shocked. Sparkly man? Peaches? Did Toby remember his time in the Labyrinth? How could he? He was barely one year old when it had happened. Despite the pain she was in, Sarah couldn't help but be just a little bit afraid.
"The sparkly man had to go away. He made himself be an owl and flew away, but he was going to come back to find princess Sarah. He promised."
Sarah was shaking by now, but forced out, "Thanks, Toby. I feel much better now. Let's get some sleep."
Happy that he'd helped her, Toby snuggled into Sarah's arms and promptly fell back to sleep. Sarah, though, lay there in the darkness, staring at Toby's face, dimly lit by the moon. Jareth promised to come back? No. No, Toby must have just made up that part. It couldn't be right. Still, how would Toby know about the ballroom and the peach?
When Sarah was at last overcome by the exhaustion of staying up all night and the beating from her stepmother, Sarah fell asleep.
Sarah woke slowly and the first thing she realized was that she was hurt. The sleep she'd gotten hadn't helped her injuries at all and she still felt bruised and battered. Her whole body ached. She felt so weak. The worst part was that the warm body next to her wasn't Toby. It was to big to be Toby. Someone was holding her. Sarah struggled for a moment before, but it was little more than a pathetic moan and a twitch.
"Hush." A strangely familiar voice whispered. "You're all right, now. We'll take care of you. You're going home." Sarah was sure she should recognize the voice. She'd heard it before.
"Don't want to go home." Sarah mumbled through swollen lips that tasted like blood. She didn't remember her lips being swollen. Maybe she got worse while she'd been sleeping and her father had taken her to the hospital. "They'll hurt me again."
"No, not your home, ours. Don't be afraid. We'll take care of you."
"Toby?" Sarah muttered. She tried to open her eyes, but they hurt so badly she couldn't. They must have swollen while she was sleeping, too. "Where's Toby?"
"I'm sorry. You were alone in the room. We'll find him for you, if you want."
With that final thought, Sarah drifted into a troubled sleep, feeling oddly safe.
Tiger Eye-
Tiger Eye looked down at his burden and marveled at how small she was. There seemed to be no weight to her as he carried her and his friends ran beside him. "Where are we going?" He asked. He had spoken to the frightened girl more to comfort her than anything else.
"The circus won't be safe." Hawk Eye said. He was the smartest of them all and usually came up with the best plans. "We don't want Zerconia to find her. Ringmaster or not, she'd be killed instantly. We'll have to find someplace safe for her to stay away from that awful excuse for a family."
"We don't know any place safe." Fish Eye pointed out. "We don't know anyone in this world."
Hawk Eye got a sly look in his eyes and smiled. "Maybe we do."
To be continued...
A Fated Meeting
Fish Eye-
Fish was quiet while he and Tiger Eye looked for the girl, Sarah Williams. 'It's hard to believe that she's our Ringmaster.' Fish Eye thought. He remembered Ringmaster being so strong and confident. This girl seemed weak, like she was ready to be broken at the slightest gust of wind. 'She just seems so normal for a human. Except for her face that belongs to our Ringmaster.'
Looking over at his companion, Fish Eye was pleased that Hawk Eye had thought to send Tiger Eye with him. Though he was a sweet and had enough power to surpass most everyone at the circus but to also be counted as one of the strongest three, Tiger Eye wasn't a fighter. He simply didn't live up to his name sake. While the Tiger was a fierce and remorseless hunter, devouring anything it could get its teeth into, Tiger Eye would have preferred to show off his acrobatics to an applauding audience or go out for a good time with his friends. He certainly wasn't meek and by no means was he unable to fight; confrontation just wasn't in his nature.
"She's here." Tiger Eye suddenly stopped running and latched a hand onto Fish Eye's arm, pulling him to a stop, also. With his eyes wide, Tiger Eye looked around slowly at the strangers on the street and the buildings as if he could see through them. Fish Eye watched, fascinated, while Tiger Eye sniffed delicately at the air. "She just passed by. I can still smell her."
"How long ago?" Fish Eye asked. Though he might sometimes act a bit silly, Tiger Eye had the senses of the Tiger he was named for. He could smell his prey and once he'd met a person, he never forgot their scent. He was also never wrong about a hunt.
"Not long. A few minutes. She must be close." Tiger Eye wrinkled his nose again as he sniffed. "She met someone. One of those girls!" He sounded outraged and shocked. "That dark haired one!"
"Girl? You mean those senshi?" Fish Eye guessed, knowing that there weren't many human girls Tiger Eye would know the smell of. "The dark haired one has a fire magic, if I remember right. It could be dangerous." All ready thoughts of that senshi girl hurting the supposed Ringmaster was making Fish Eye angry and frightened.
"No." Tiger Eye said, more calmly. "They didn't stay together long." He walked slowly down the sidewalk, his face slightly tilted upwards, showing that he was following the scent as he walked. Fish Eye followed closely behind, trusting Tiger Eye to find the girl. "Sarah's safe." Tiger Eye stopped and stood in place for a moment. "Here. That senshi girl left here and Sarah went that way." He pointed down the sidewalk.
"Then that's where we go." Fish Eye said, determined. "We'll worry about that senshi another time. This is more important." He started off in the way Tiger Eye had indicated, but stopped when Tiger Eye didn't follow. "What's wrong?"
"Ummm. I think I forgot to mention something when I told you about Sarah." He looked at Fish Eye guiltily and wrung his hands like a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
"What could be more important than the fact she has someone living inside her who isn't Pegasus?" Fish Eye asked. Anything else could be dealt with after finding Sarah, but that whole thing about someone who could come in and out of people was a big problem. Especially if Sarah really was the Ringmaster reincarnated.
"Well," he looked around reluctantly, showing that he really didn't want to say what he had to.
Fish Eye glared at him suspiciously. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything, honest! It was those senshi girls."
"What about them?"
"I...I think they were watching when I saw Sarah and peeked into her soul mirror."
Fish Eye didn't say anything for a moment, considering the implications of this new information. "That's odd, isn't it? They didn't try to interfere or stop you?"
"No. One of them yelled about something, but by then that man had popped out of Sarah's soul mirror. The point is that they might have already spoken to Sarah about what's going on. She might be afraid of us."
Sarah-
Sarah ran from the scene of her attack as quickly as she could, very confused about what had happened. 'It was an attack.' Sarah told herself, desperately wanting to believe it. 'That blonde guy just stepped out of the shadows and...and...' Sarah's thoughts drifted away as she tried desperately to remember what had happened after that. There had been fear and a mild amount of pain and...and Jareth.
'Stop it!' Sarah scolded herself. 'I do not need daydreams of him! He's a kidnapper and he tried to kill me with the cleaners and he was awful to poor Hoggle.' She was desperately reminding herself of his bad qualities. 'It was a nightmare or something. Why else would I see him? He looked so angry, too.' Sarah didn't want to admit it, but she was more than a little afraid of Jareth when he was angry. Granted, she had never seen him angry when she was in the Labyrinth. Mildly irritated at the worst, but never really angry.
For only a very short time while her father was here on business, Sarah and her family were living in Japan. She had learned to speak Japanese, but her accent was terrible, or so she was told. She had been here long enough that she had heard the strange rumors about what was going on with monsters and the senshi warriors who seemed to be young girls. Was she getting involved in their battles? She couldn't possibly have anything to do with all this.
Sarah didn't see the girl she ran into, she was so lost in her own thoughts. They both grunted and fell onto the ground, landing painfully. Sarah looked up to find herself looking at a very pretty girl with long black hair and smiled sheepishly at the girl who looked remarkable like her.
"Sorry." Sarah mumbled, embarrassed. "I wasn't paying attention." She had learned that manners were very important to Japanese people and she was careful to mind what she said.
"No problem." The girl smiled sweetly. "I'm Hino Rei." She held out a hand and the two girls helped each other up.
"I'm Williams Sarah." She remembered to put her surname first to avoid confusion. "I had my mind on something else, sorry if you're hurt." Sarah apologized again.
"Forget it. Are you new in town?" Rei smile politely, as she looked Sarah up and down.
"Can't you tell by my accent?" Sarah laughed, putting on a happy face. It was an act she'd long since gotten used to. Act happy and everyone will believe it. Act sad and you'll just end up crying. Better to be happy and make people around you happy.
Rei blushed, but didn't look away. "I wasn't trying to be nosy. Hey," She smiled brightly at Sarah. "The accident was as much my fault as it was yours. To apologize, why don't you come to my home and I'll serve tea. I'm sure some of my tea and famous cookies will make it up to you properly."
As tempted as she was Sarah shook her head. "I can't, I'm afraid. I wish I could, but my folks are expecting me back soon. I've been gone to long as it is." Sarah started running the same way she'd been going before she'd run into Rei.
When Sarah left Rei was still smiling and waving after her. "Come see me soon, Sarah. At the Temple on the hill!" As Sarah walked around the corner, Rei's smile vanished.
Rei-
"Did you find out anything?" Usagi asked, suddenly at Rei's side. Rei turned to find all her friends now out of their senshi uniforms and in regular clothes. They didn't want Sarah to recognize them after what had happened in the park, even thought they weren't sure that she had even seen them.
Rei shook her head. "Not really, just that she's not from around here. She just said she was distracted and didn't see me. I was hoping she'd come back to the temple so maybe I could get a reading on her."
"That was really weird." Ami said, looking at her little computer. She stood with her back against a wall and didn't look up at them as she spoke, she was that certain that they would listen to her. "I've been studying some readings I took on that person who came out of the girl..."
"Sarah." Rei supplied.
"Sarah. It seems, he is not human, as much as he looks it. He is not a monster or demon, either. Nor is he anything we've ever come up against and the worst news is that he is so powerful, I can't tell what, exactly he is. All that power is like a smoke screen around him. We can see the basic shape, but we can't see the details."
Everyone was silent for a moment. "Who is he?" Usagi asked out loud. "A new enemy or ally or something altogether different."
Sarah-
Sarah was feeling much better now that she'd actually met someone normal who was so friendly. It wasn't enough to make her forget what had happened earlier, but she was smiling when she got home. Well...it was a temporary home, anyway. The apartment was dark and lifeless when Sarah looked up at it from the street level as she'd known it would be. Her father and stepmother liked to keep late hours at their parties and other business functions. For the good of her father's business, they'd started traveling the world shortly after Sarah's short adventure in Jareth's Labyrinth.
There was only one thing tying Sarah to her family and that was her brother, Toby. The only reason she hadn't run away when she was younger was because of Toby. He was three now, old enough to be frightened by the yelling and fighting. Sarah's only comfort in the whole thing was that they hadn't even tried to yell at Toby, let alone hurt him. The minute they tried, she...she...
They must have taken Toby along with them to whatever business function they were attending. Sarah had, just a short time ago, realized that Toby was used for little more than a convenient conversation piece. Everyone would 'Ohh' and 'Ahh' over the darling child while softening to Sarah's father. After all, he had to be a good man to raise such a sweet boy, Sarah thought sarcastically.
What would they do once Toby grew to old and didn't like being cute anymore? When he started rebelling as every kid, like Sarah, did at some point? He was already starting to want to stay home from the endless, dull parties his parents dragged him to and Sarah knew that a full blown temper tantrum wasn't far away. He was three. He was supposed to have temper tantrums.
Sarah really didn't know what she would do when that happened. She wanted to kill them, sometimes. Or just run away. Or kill herself.
'Oh, stop it!' Sarah flopped into one of their apartment's chairs and put her hands over her eyes as she waited for her parents and brother to get home. This day was to long. 'Can't start thinking like that again. It'll get me nowhere.'
Hawk Eye-
Hawk Eye appeared next to Fish Eye and Tiger Eye, peering up at the single light in the apartment window. "That's her, huh?" Was the first thing he said.
"Are you all right?" Tiger Eye asked, looking at Hawk Eye closely. "You don't look to badly hurt."
"Of course I'm not hurt." Hawk Eye lied. He was good at lying. "A mere slap on the wrist and Zerconia let me go." He didn't tell them about how he was still having a hard time seeing in the dim light or that he was having to strain to hear them. The pain near his heart was dulling, also, so he didn't bother to worry about that, either.
Hawk Eye peered into the window of the high-class house, hoping to get his friends attention away from him. "Fish, are you sure she's here?" He whispered to. The windows were darkened all except for a single, dim light and there was no sound. It was late so it was reasonable to think that everyone was asleep. Then again, it might have been that Hawk Eye's hearing was still a little off.
"Yes, we followed her after she bumped into that girl with the senshi girl." His eyes narrowed as he said viciously, "If I had time, I'd skin the fool for knocking Ringmaster over!"
It was obvious to Hawk Eye that Fish Eye, and probably Tiger Eye, were both convinced that this girl was their Ringmaster. "We don't even know for certain that she is Ringmaster. Let's not get our hopes up." The last thing Hawk Eye wanted was for his friends to be severely disappointed if they learned that this was just a regular, ordinary human girl.
"I KNOW she is Ringmaster!" Fish Eye told him haughtily. Both Tiger Eye and Hawk Eye rolled their eyes. There was no shaking him when he made up his mind as he was admittedly the most stubborn of the three. Again, Fish Eye looked up at the apartment windows. "I don't see anyone."
"Humans sleep at night, remember?" Hawk Eye reminded him. "We'll have to sneak in to be sure. Be careful, though. We don't want that man popping out again, whoever he was."
They found the pale girl asleep in a large chair and tip-toed closer to get a better look. She'd fallen asleep in her clothes with her legs curled up under her.
"It's her." Tiger Eye said. He squatted down until his nose was almost touching her face. "She smells a little different, but there's something the same about her." His face lit up with a brilliant smile when he looked up at them. "She's Ringmaster!"
"Hush!" Hawk Eye said sharply. "We don't want to wake her."
"But he's right." Fish Eye reached out his hands and ever so delicately ran his fingers over the sleeping girl's face as he closed his eyes. It was a way of seeing, or so Fish Eye had told them, once. He said he could see someone better if he could feel their face. Sarah didn't so much as twitch as Fish Eye's nimble, sensitive fingertips were exploring her face. "He's right." Fish agreed without opening his eyes. "There are differences, but I do believe she is Ringmaster."
Hawk said nothing, but stared intently at Sarah's face. Whether or not he believed, he kept his opinion to himself.
There was a noise downstairs and lights coming on in the hallway. "Come on!" Fish Eye said. "It's her family! We've got to leave."
They all left the way they came, through an open window, just in time to witness what was, in their eyes, sacrilege and an obscene defilement.
Sarah-
Sarah woke to the usual arguing.
"It's not my fault that she was wearing such a low cut blouse." Sarah's father protested against something his wife said.
Sarah rubbed her eyes to wake herself up and steeled herself for the usual nightly ritual.
"You didn't have to stare!" Sarah's stepmother snapped in reply. "Honestly, you embarrassed me in front of everyone! I don't even know why I come to those parties with you, you always do this!"
"Do what?" Sarah's father's voice dropped into a snarl. "I'm trying to get business done and all you can do is bitch and moan about what the other women do and are wearing! This is a big deal! Maybe the biggest of my life and you're not going to screw it up by throwing your jealously around like some mad cat!"
"A mad cat?!" Sarah's stepmother screeched shrilly. "How dare you! You're the one who can't control his hormones! If you think I'm going to let you get away with oogling that woman's cleavage just because she's the president of the local bank, you've got another think coming, you bastard!"
At that, the door swung open and Toby came barreling though, making a bee-line for Sarah. He jumped up on her lap and held on for dear life. Sarah grabbed him tightly and ran out of the room before the adults even walked in. She closed the bedroom door behind him just before her father and stepmother came in and leaned her back against it, as if afraid they'd follow her into the room she shared with Toby.
Toby whimpered in her arms. "Bed, Sarah. Wanna go to bed." Despite his words, Toby held Sarah as tightly as he could and Sarah knew she'd be sleeping with him again.
"Shhh." Sarah cooed, rubbing his back soothingly. "Okay. It's long passed bedtime, sweetie."
"You ugly bitch! Why did I marry you? I could have had myself some pretty little thing that wouldn't keep nagging and..."
"Don't you talk to me like that! Who do you think keeps all your books in the black? All those years I spend in that dingy little house, baby sitting your daughter, and making you as perfect as possible just to built up this business of yours! You low-life, how dare you talk to me like I was dirt!"
Sarah lay down on her bed and let Toby cuddle into her. There was no way to block out the noise from the other room, but she did the best she could and started to whisper to him, trying to keep his attention on her instead of the fight. "Do you want a bedtime story, Toby? How about a knight in shining armor or one about a troll?"
With his eyes full of tears of fear, Toby seemed to know what Sarah was doing. He had always been more perceptive than anyone gave him credit for. He put his chubby little hand on Sarah's face and petted her cheek. "Tell me about an king and a queen." Toby said and Sarah knew the one he was talking about. It was his favorite story.
The sound of breaking glass as something was thrown and shattered against a wall, making Toby jump and turn to look at the bedroom door with fear.
Sarah took his little face in one hand and turned it so he was looking at her again. "Keep looking at me, Toby. I'll tell the story if you try to sleep. The fight will end soon. It always does."
"Lazy bitch!"
"You'd be nothing without me!"
Toby hugged Sarah tightly enough that she almost had trouble breathing. "Story! Story!"
"Once upon a time," Sarah began, keeping her voice as soft as she could and speaking right into Toby's ear. She knew from experience if she held him closely enough that he could hear her heartbeat, Toby would fall asleep easier. "There was a handsome king and his beautiful queen. The lived in a far away magical land where there was always happiness and nothing bad ever happened. The king was a good, kind man and his queen loved him very much. The king and queen had a little son named Prince Toby. Prince Toby was a brave little boy and loved to ride horses. He was going to grow up to be kind, just like his daddy, and..." The story continued and Sarah started to rock Toby slightly, lulling him to sleep.
It was a simple story about a land where no one ever fought and no one ever yelled. To any adult, it would have seemed absurd and boring. To Toby, it was a vision of paradise and it was the only peace Sarah could give him right now. There was no plot to the story and it often changed depending on what was going on in Toby's life. Sometimes Prince Toby would go on a picnic with his loving parents when Toby's parents ignored him for to long. If Toby was having a hard day with this or that, Prince Toby would have an especially happy day playing with puppies and kittens.
Silly.
Simple minded.
Absurd.
Perfect.
Anything that could bring Toby at least a little happiness was perfect in Sarah's eyes. When Toby finally fell asleep, Sarah freed herself from his strangling arms, but held his hand for a while. It just wasn't right that the only happiness a three-year-old could find was in a story.
'Why did I fight so hard to get him back?' Sarah wondered. She looked out the window at the full moon. The night was getting late and it was almost morning. 'I should have left him with Jareth. At least as a goblin, Toby would have been happy. He wouldn't remember what was going on, but he'd be happy. All those other goblins were happy, after all. Maybe...' She looked back at Toby and felt a hard lump form in her stomach. 'Maybe I should call Jareth again. I could wish Toby away for good and not get him back. It would be for the best, really. I don't know what else to do for Toby.'
Sarah bit her lip to stop the tears that were forming. She didn't want to lose Toby, but...if it was for his own good, maybe she should.
When she was certain Toby was fast asleep, Sarah opened the bedroom door just a crack to peek out into the now silent outer room. The quiet had been so sudden that it was almost unnatural. 'Dad probably went out for a drink again and Karen probably went to bed.' That was what usually happened after such a big fight, anyway. To avoid more arguments, Sarah had gotten into the habit of cleaning up after the fights. She'd make it look like nothing had happened by morning before she left for school and took Toby to the local daycare and thus take away another reason to fight.
This night was different.
As soon as Sarah stuck her head out the door, another hand grabbed the door and flung it open violently.
"Karen? I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Sarah was more than a little surprised to see her stepmother hadn't gone to bed already. It was almost dawn, after all. Sarah fought down her fear, but kept herself as meek as possible. That usually kept Karen calm.
"It's all your fault, you know." Karen said bitterly. She took Sarah by the arm and drew her out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
"I'm sorry." Sarah apologized quickly, but not knowing what she was apologizing for. Whatever it was, Sarah was sure it would be best to keep Karen calm and happy for now.
"Sorry? You're sorry for ruining my life?" Karen was on the brink of exploding with anger and Sarah recognized the signs. That tiny little tick in the center of Karen's forehead and always started throbbing and she always balled up her left fist. "Sarah, if it weren't for you, I'm sure your father and I would have led a perfectly happy life. He wouldn't have had to spend so much money on you and we wouldn't have had to work so hard. You were always causing trouble and coming between us. And now you're taking my only son away from me! You think you can buy his love with your sweet words and little fairy tales. He's my son, Sarah! He's mine and he loves me, not you!" Karen raised her fist...
Locking the bedroom door behind her, Sarah crept back into bed. Toby was still there and Sarah draped one arm over him, finding comfort that he was safe and where she'd left him.
"Sarah sad?"
Now Sarah felt a twinge of guilt. "I'm okay. Go back to sleep, Toby. We've got school in a little bit and you need your sleep." She petted his hair.
In the darkness Toby's little fingers wiped the tears off her face. "Crying?" He kissed her cheek. "I'll tell a story, Sarah. Once upon a time was a sparkly man with long hair. He danced with princess Sarah and gave her peaches to eat. The sparkly man sang funny songs and let the little monsters play with the chickens."
As Toby's story continued, Sarah just lay there, shocked. Sparkly man? Peaches? Did Toby remember his time in the Labyrinth? How could he? He was barely one year old when it had happened. Despite the pain she was in, Sarah couldn't help but be just a little bit afraid.
"The sparkly man had to go away. He made himself be an owl and flew away, but he was going to come back to find princess Sarah. He promised."
Sarah was shaking by now, but forced out, "Thanks, Toby. I feel much better now. Let's get some sleep."
Happy that he'd helped her, Toby snuggled into Sarah's arms and promptly fell back to sleep. Sarah, though, lay there in the darkness, staring at Toby's face, dimly lit by the moon. Jareth promised to come back? No. No, Toby must have just made up that part. It couldn't be right. Still, how would Toby know about the ballroom and the peach?
When Sarah was at last overcome by the exhaustion of staying up all night and the beating from her stepmother, Sarah fell asleep.
Sarah woke slowly and the first thing she realized was that she was hurt. The sleep she'd gotten hadn't helped her injuries at all and she still felt bruised and battered. Her whole body ached. She felt so weak. The worst part was that the warm body next to her wasn't Toby. It was to big to be Toby. Someone was holding her. Sarah struggled for a moment before, but it was little more than a pathetic moan and a twitch.
"Hush." A strangely familiar voice whispered. "You're all right, now. We'll take care of you. You're going home." Sarah was sure she should recognize the voice. She'd heard it before.
"Don't want to go home." Sarah mumbled through swollen lips that tasted like blood. She didn't remember her lips being swollen. Maybe she got worse while she'd been sleeping and her father had taken her to the hospital. "They'll hurt me again."
"No, not your home, ours. Don't be afraid. We'll take care of you."
"Toby?" Sarah muttered. She tried to open her eyes, but they hurt so badly she couldn't. They must have swollen while she was sleeping, too. "Where's Toby?"
"I'm sorry. You were alone in the room. We'll find him for you, if you want."
With that final thought, Sarah drifted into a troubled sleep, feeling oddly safe.
Tiger Eye-
Tiger Eye looked down at his burden and marveled at how small she was. There seemed to be no weight to her as he carried her and his friends ran beside him. "Where are we going?" He asked. He had spoken to the frightened girl more to comfort her than anything else.
"The circus won't be safe." Hawk Eye said. He was the smartest of them all and usually came up with the best plans. "We don't want Zerconia to find her. Ringmaster or not, she'd be killed instantly. We'll have to find someplace safe for her to stay away from that awful excuse for a family."
"We don't know any place safe." Fish Eye pointed out. "We don't know anyone in this world."
Hawk Eye got a sly look in his eyes and smiled. "Maybe we do."
To be continued...
