Chapter Eleven: On the Turning Away

"There comes a time," she said carefully, her voice shaking slightly, "when we must let go our fears and face the dark, regardless of how much we love the light— and I cannot do it if the light of the world is standing by my side. And so you must leave me."

Sarah stood still, staring at him. He could not bear the look of betrayal in her eyes, and so he looked at the ground.

"This—" she said. "This is the truth, what you've told me?"

Erik nodded slowly, heavily, his eyes never leaving the ground beneath his feet. He walked on with a measured tread, and Sarah followed, eyes wide in disbelief, several paces behind.

"You told me you were helping me!"

"I lied," said Erik quietly.

Sarah's lip trembled; she folded her arms and fought back tears.

Erik's back stiffened as he heard her sob, and he half-turned and looked back at her.

"Well, I have told you the truth now, and all I can do is stand by it."

"Why?" she said.

"I had to do it, child! This Goblin King of yours has my Christine— I would do anything to get her back."

"No," she said, and stomped her foot, slowly regaining control over herself. "Why would you tell me the truth now? What good is it to you, or to me?"

He looked at her, head shaking slowly.

"Are you telling me that you would rather have continued on being deceived and lied to, instead of knowing what the dangers were, knowing there was no one you could trust?"

"Well, at least when I was being lied to I thought I had a friend!" she said. "Now I have nothing. No one to depend on. I'm being accompanied by the Phantom of the Opera, and he lies to me."

Erik's breath came as steadily as it ever had, and only his eyes showed the turmoil within.

"I," he said clearly, "am not your friend."

"Don't you think I know that by now? All this time you've been working for Jareth, trying to trip me up and lead me back to the beginning. Who knows— if I hadn't met you, traveled with you, I might have been at the castle by now! Who knows how much damage you've done my cause? For all I know, the correct turning to lead me straight to Toby could be right there—" She gestured at the hedge next to them. "And you wouldn't tell me. You wouldn't help me at all!"

She ran out of words, and they stood for a moment, regarding each other silently.

She drew in a deep breath, shuddery from her near bout with tears.

"I just want to know, Erik."

"What?"

"I want to know why you decided to tell me the truth, after all this time."

The small smile that touched his lips bore no trace of joviality, or lightheartedness— it was sad, reminiscent, pitiable.

"Christine would want me to do things honestly," he said. "Any man I might become, I would want to be acceptable to her."

Sarah turned away from him and fingered the leaves of the hedges.

"As we went on, and I saw how you dealt with the Labyrinth— I began to think that you could succeed. And that nothing I or Jareth could do— would stand in your way."

Her hair fell forward, hiding her face. She shifted her eyes to try and see him without being seen, but all she could see was his figure, a dark silhouette through a fall of brown hair.

Just who was he, this Erik—

Was he what he claimed to be? A conflicted and tortured man, in love with a woman who was being held captive by the Goblin King? Someone impressed by Sarah's own competency?

Or was he someone else entirely?

Was he lying still?

She bit back another sob as she realized she would probably never know.

"It doesn't matter anyway," she said, slowly.

Erik's head lifted and he looked at her. Gradually, she pushed her hair out of her face and looked back at him.

"Because I want you to leave."

"What?"

"I don't want you to be with me any more," Sarah said, determination in her voice. "I need to get to that castle. I don't trust you to help me. I need you to leave."

For another long moment he stood there, staring at her.

Then, with a short bow, he turned away and was very quickly gone from sight.