DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this. (Bummer) All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.
Chapter 28 – The death of Innocence.
Elindah smiled to herself as she created a new, equally as filmy dress as the one she had worn earlier in the day and picked through the beautiful jewellery scattered on the dressing table, finally placing a crown of black and white diamonds on her head, musing to herself that her pale, almost white hair set the precious metals and gems off perfectly. Pausing to admire herself in the long mirror she noted that Jareth, her lover, she smirked, still lay naked on the bed, watching her, watch him in the mirror.
"Dress darling then we shall go down to court. No doubt there are many of my vassals who wish to pay their respects."
She ignored his sigh, just as she ignored the ragged cracks in the walls and ceilings as he silently escorted her down long corridors, dressed in grey and cream equally. They entered the great throne room and walked between deformed creatures and beautiful, glassy eyed Fae, all stood perfectly still and not bowing. Elindah continued to ignore these few minor points and settled herself gracefully onto a marble throne, covered with red silk throws and cushions. Jareth sat at her feet as she commanded him and then turned and directed the court to continue with a wave of her hand. Music sprang up from unseen corner, an eerie wailing song that sent shivers down many of the Fae's backs.
"My Queen." A tall red haired Fae woman said approaching the throne.
"What is it Venalath?" Elindah asked in a bored tone.
"You promised us the Labyrinth, yet it is gone, shattered beyond fixing. You promised that we would have children, but there are none to be found."
"Foolish woman. The Labyrinth is as it has always been. I control the Labyrinth, and I control its King."
"Perhaps you should look for yourself." Venalath remarked before backing away from the throne. Elindah hissed in exasperation and pulled Jareth round to look at him.
"What is wrong with the Labyrinth?" She demanded.
"I do not know. I can not sense it." He said shrugging his shoulders.
"What do you mean you can not sense it?" She screeched, making many of the Fae turn and watch her with murderous looks in their eyes.
"Your promises were empty Elindah. You released the Unseelie Court and now it is they who control everything, not you, or your King without a soul. They have sucked him dry, just as they have done the Labyrinth." Another Fae said, his voice dripping with contempt.
"It approaches." One of the Unseelie Court snarled as it materialised before the throne, scattering Fae and dark creatures alike.
"What do you mean it approaches!" Elindah shouted standing up.
"The Lost One." It said disappearing again.
The court stood once again in silence listening to a ravens cry somewhere above them.
"There!" Shouted one Fae, pointing up to a single bird that sat perched high on a balcony looking down at them all.
"Kill it!" Elindah screamed as Fae and creature alike threw bolts of fire and lightning and magic towards the bird, which cawed and flew away before the magic, which destroyed the balcony, could hit it.
Circling the room, the raven screamed again in defiance before swooping low towards the floor. As everybody watched, the raven grew, its wings turning into black robes, and wild black hair, fluttering and streaming in a magical wind. Instinctively those closest to this woman who had once been a raven stepped backwards, leaving her in a space all of her own as she laughed, her mismatched eyes as hard as ice.
"Sometimes Elindah, the end finds you before you can even reach the beginning." Selindé said casually as she walked towards the shocked Fae.
"You are dead!" Elindah howled stamping her foot.
"No. Not yet. There is only one person here who can kill me, and since you have stolen away his soul and his mind... well not even he would be able to now."
"Kill her Jareth." Elindah said, pulling him to his feet and pushing him down the dais towards Sarah. The man who once stood tall and proud as the Goblin King walked towards the woman he instinctively recognised and drew a sword from the scabbard of a male Fey as he passed by him, as white as stone the blade flashed in the torchlight.
"He does not even understand how to kill, Elindah. What does it feel like to know you have destroyed one of the most precious Fae in the Underground? Did he whisper your name as you forced him to have sex with you? Did he reach out to you for comfort and friendship, ..did he tell you he loves you?" Selindé asked with a smirk as every word bit deep in Elindah's raging mind.
"You will die whore! I'm going to cut you into shreds and feed you to the creatures of the night!" She screamed, running down the dais and pulling the sword from Jareth's slack grip. Swinging it with all her might at Selindé, Elindah cried out in pain as the sword shattered into a thousand pieces as soon as Selindé moved her hand. Like lightening Selindé caught Elindah around her neck and pulled her close so that she could look the shorter Fae in the eyes, letting her recognise the most powerful magic in the Underground as she stared into Selindé's mismatched eyes that were filled with burning stars and the infinity of the universe.
"Who are you?" Elindah croaked as Selindé threw her head back and laughed.
"Let me show you what I am." She turned to the crowd of Fae and dark creatures, ignoring Elindah's whimper as she threw her to the ground at Jareth's feet.
"Those who seek to betray the Labyrinth are cast out. The Underground will support you no more." She stated folding her arms over her chest.
"Where will we go if we can not stay here? This is our home, not yours!" A voice called out in anger.
"Perhaps if you grovel the Unseelie ones will let you play with them in their own world." Selindé laughed again.
"You can't banish us! We are not your people!"
"You all belong to the Underground. I am the will of the Underground. The Lost One. The Labyrinth, the heart of magic that pulses in every one of you. My will is word." Selindé said quietly not moving as she concentrated. A low moan spread from the far end of the throne room, taken up by more and more Fae as many fell to the floor clutching their heads.
"What are you doing?" Venalath cried rushing up to Selindé to shake her.
"Taking back what no longer belongs to these unclean creatures." Selindé stared at the Fae woman with the flaming hair dispassionately as she drained the woman of every bit of magic in her body. Severing her forever from the beating heart of the Underground. The Fae, too shocked to even cry out in pain at the severing fell to the floor in a dead faint.
"You are no longer welcome here. Return to the darkness from where you were summoned." Selindé said pointing her finger at the dark creatures that had gathered together in the centre of the throne room. With a piercing shriek the creatures were engulfed in sooty black flames that claimed them, and sucked them down into oblivion.
"They will not let you destroy her." The Labyrinth said in the silence of Selindé's mind satisfied with the justice of her actions.
"Who said I wanted to destroy her?" Selindé laughed turning back to Elindah who was trying to hide behind Jareth's polished boots.
"I have something to show you." Selindé said calmly. In a single movement of her hand the Throne room disintegrated around them, blown away from the force of Selindé's magic. The floor shuddered and emitted piercing squeals and a terrible grinding noise as it broke away from the remains of the fortress and carried them up and out into the semi dark of the cloud covered sky.
As the floor of the broken throne room soared up into the clouds on a pillar of rock, the Unseelie Court appeared around them, circling the ruins at a safe distance and watching to see what Selindé would do next.
"Get up Elindah, I want you to see the damage you have caused through your foolishness and ignorance." Selindé said pushing the silent Jareth out of the way and pulling Elindah to her feet by her arm. Elindah yelped and hung back as Selindé proceeded to drag her to the edge of the broken floor.
"Watch Elindah, and weep for your homeland." Selindé hissed, waving her hand across the sky to banish the roiling dark clouds above their heads.
As the clouds broke apart, streaming away against a tidal wave of magic. Elindah gasped and fell to her knees looking out over the wasteland that had once been the Labyrinth in all its glory.
"They told me it would remain the same! They promised me the Labyrinth! What have you done with it? What have you done to my Labyrinth!" She screamed getting up and trying to grab hold of Selindé who caught her hands in a vice like grip.
"This is what you did, you have destroyed the Underground and the Labyrinth, not I! You were the one to unleash the Unseelie Court!"
"They promised me My King! They promised me power!"
"You are twice the fool for believing them." Selindé said dismissively as Elindah staggered away from her to wrap her arms around the stoically impassive Jareth, who did not return her embrace.
"Twice the fool for believing them, and they the same for thinking they would win." Selindé said under her breath as the largest of the Unseelie Court floated down towards her, looking out of place in the pale blue cloud cut sky.
"It is thou who has become foolish Lost One. You could have had the world at your disposal, you could have been the greatest of us all, but you chose to be leashed by these pathetic immortals who crave nothing but your power."
"I never wanted the world. I never cared about the world. I just cared about them. I will not let you destroy what I have taken so long to build." The Labyrinth, though Selindé roared back at the Unseelie creature.
"And where is this thing that you have taken so long to build? Where is your precious Underground and its Labyrinth now?"
"Right where I can keep it safe from you." The Labyrinth said laughing.
"What would happen then if I destroyed this remaining creature you inhabit? What would you do then?"
"You would have to succeed first." Selindé replied for herself, folding her arms in defiance. The Unseelie creature snarled and moved closer before snaking out a skeletal hand to throw a whip like streak of magic at her. It floated back a little as she moved like lightning and absorbed the magic, laughing as she did so.
"Is that the best you can do?" She asked incredulously. The Unseelie Court howled and as one hive mind they turned and began to strike at her, lashing her tiny form with magic so dark and malevolent it cut shreds into the stone floor where they all stood making the tall pillar of rock tremble.
The Unseelie Court fought on, not for one moment realising that she neither fought back nor tried to defend herself. On and on they attacked her until, with barely a flicker in her mismatched eyes Selindé brought up a single hand, stopping their magic dead, draining it from the Unseelie ones before they could back out of reach. As she drew their own magic from them with one hand, with the other she fired off shots that shook the floor with each resounding boom, destroying one after the other of the Unseelie Court until there were only a few of the creatures left.
The silence washed over them all abruptly as Selindé stopped her attack, letting the exhausted creatures fall back to recover slightly. She ignored the searing pain across her chest, cheek and thigh where the magic had cut and burned her, just as she ignored the throbbing exquisite agony of so much magic coursing through her veins. She waited intently, watching the Unseelie Court watching her, waiting for them to strike, to let their guard down. Behind her Elindah giggled and laughed madly where she sat, her face red with blood from where she had been caught by a magical blast, her eyes almost vacant. The sound distracted Selindé and it was that second, in the flickering of her mismatched eyes that they struck, a wave of magic pouring out of them, smashing against her defences and breaking over them like a sheet of water, knocking her to her knees as she fought blindly to push back the power.
In the struggle that eschewed a swirling vortex of blackness opened up between them adding its own energy to the fight, trying to draw the combatants into its swirling heart. The vortex grew stronger as the remains of the Unseelie Court fought furiously against Selindé who stood white faced, her eyes watering in effort as she braced herself against the repeated attacks. With a nightmarish howl the smaller of the two creatures, in something akin to slow motion, self destructed, the remaining ragged limbs sucked into the vortex that threatened to engulf the whole of the throne room floor as it grew in size.
Almost fatally Selindé took a stumbling step backwards away from the vortex, tripping over Elindah who lay sprawled across the floor by Jareth who had been knocked out by an earlier blast of magic. With a cry of delight the Unseelie creature surged forwards, eager to press the small advantage it had gained in Selindé's stumble then hissed as it realised that it had moved too close to the vortex which dragged the howling creature down into its dark depths before disappearing entirely, the blast of exploding magic from its demise knocking Selindé to the floor on top of Elindah. She lay dazed, her ears ringing, feeling drained and utterly sick.
"We have done it." The Labyrinth sighed in relief. "Once more I have destroyed that which gave birth to me in order to protect those that I love."
"You are Unseelie. That is why they call you the Lost One." She said quietly, feeling used and dirty.
"I am neither Seelie, or Unseelie. An outcast, too powerful to destroy, but not pure enough to be given a second chance. Used, abused and misunderstood by all except you and Jareth for so many thousands of years. I do not want to be alone." It whispered sadly.
"You are not alone." Selindé sighed. "Never alone." She got slowly to her feet and stepped away from Elindah who lay regarding her in hatred.
"That does not belong to you." Selindé said thoughtfully before reaching down and removing her crown from Elindah's head, placing it rightfully on her own. Selindé stood and watched Elindah's dirty, blood stained face as she removed the crown and smiled lightly at the shocked Fae who gathered herself and stood up from where she had been kneeling on the floor.
"It doesn't belong to you either whore." She spat, ignoring the fresh line of bright blood that flowed down her face.
"Haven't we been through this once?" Selindé sighed tiredly. "I am Queen of Shayene, I am the wife of Jareth, I will be the mother of his children, I am the Queen of the Goblin Kingdom and I most definitely belong here, I am more Fae than you Elindah. Fae can not lie."
"But mortals can." Elindah said turning away from her to watch Jareth who stood off to one side brushing the dust from his white cloak and hair. "You may think you are all those things, but I own his soul." She continued running a light finger down his face as he glared at her.
"If you own his soul Elindah, why is it that only I can command him?" Selindé asked wearily.
"How you deceive yourself." Elindah laughed. "Jareth, kill her." She ordered pointing a dirty finger at Selindé. Jareth looked at Elindah, and then at Selindé who simply shook her head at him, motioning for him to stay where he was. Dispassionately he folded his arms across his chest and looked out over the ruins of the kingdom his mind did not recognise.
"How dare you! Jareth KILL HER NOW!" Elindah screamed, trying to push Jareth towards her enemy. He looked down at her and pushed her away from him.
"It won't work Elindah. Before the Unseelie Court took away what they thought was all his magic, he placed his soul and his mind into my care. Whilst I hold his soul, you will never be able to hurt him. You are defeated Elindah, and will have to live with your defeat for the rest of your days, I will not banish you as I did the others. You will have to live off your father's charity, alone and with no magic. This is the price you will pay for your crimes."
"No. If I can not have him…" Elindah wept picking up a discarded table dagger that one of the other Fae had left in the dust on the floor. "Neither will you!" She screeched plunging the dagger into his heart.
"NO!" Selindé screamed running forward to catch him as he fell, holding his head, as she could not support his weight as he collapsed to the ground, his life blood flowing away from the deep wound in his heart. As the life in his eyes flickered and died, a moment of insanity swept all thought away from Selindé's mind as she turned and grasped hold of Elindah by her throat where she knelt staring.
"You killed him!" She screamed. "You killed him you ungrateful bitch! I never did anything to you, he never did anything to you, you worthless snivelling pathetic murderer!" She screamed on shaking Elindah by the throat as the woman gurgled and clawed at Selindé's hands in desperation. Eventually she stopped fighting, stopped making the awful gasping noises and hung limply from Selindé's hands, her face white beneath the blood and dirt, her eyes vacant. Selindé let go of Elindah, wincing automatically as her head hit the stone floor with an unpleasant squelching sound. A sudden pain tore through her making her cry out. In horror she looked down to find her skirt stained with fresh blood.
"NO! Nonononononnoo!" She touched her extended belly desperately trying to sense the heartbeats of her unborn children and found nothing.
"Heal them!" She begged the Labyrinth.
"I can not." It said, distraught as it tried to support her.
Selindé's world fell apart, sobbing she fell to her knees at Jareth's side, pulling him up into her arms as she wept, the knowledge of his death and Elindah's death at her own hands, and now her children plunged her into a blackness. Her last conscious thought was to call out to Isenith.