The Truth of a Lie
a/n: I do not Labyrinth. I am sorry that this update is seeming a little late. I wrote two erotic stories, an erotic Inuyasha fanfic (check aff (dot) net for that one), and I am working on a regular Inuyasha fanfic at the same time as this one right now. I am a busy girl. I also had a bit of an argument with my muses concerning this story and lost my way a bit, which resulted in overhauling the chapter. Thanks to all of you who still read it! And many, many thanks to the darling AngelaScarlet for betaing once again. I could not have done this chapter without her!
Chapter Six: What Is Normal?
Jareth. A name. A nice name. An extravagant name. A name itself holds no power unless you give it such. Jareth's name was no different. It may have been derived from the Welsh name Gareth, which means, 'gentle'. Sir Gareth was one of the Knights of the Round Table. Or it could have been derived from the Hebrew name Jarah, which means 'he who gives sweetness or honey'. In the bible, Jarah is a descendent of King Saul. In any case, Sarah did not believe either one of these applied to this Jareth, this Goblin King. She refused to even recognize the name as holding any meaning, and power. If she believed the name held power, then the man himself would hold power. And Sarah did not want him gaining one ounce of power over her.
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They reached the lake with just enough sunlight left to bathe without fearing the darkness of the water. This was the Underground after all, and you never could tell what dwelled in such places. Sarah sighed with audible pleasure as she thought of washing all the dirt, grime, muck, and blood off of her body and outfit. They could be washed away like sins in the water.
"Have you been here before, Jareth?" Sarah asked casually in passing curiosity. She started to make camp, laying out their blankets and such as Jareth sat on a log.
"Not since I was about sixty or so," Jareth answered, still irked that this girl would call him by his given name. He had to keep reminding himself to pick his battles. It was not terribly important right now, just annoying.
"Hmmm," Sarah murmured as she unlaced her tall boots. Her attire amused Jareth almost as much as it aroused him. He knew it was meant to distract. Founds were just like that. They never did anything without reason, and he was sure Sarah was no exception. They lived to distract the people around them. Sarah flexed and pointed her feet to work out the kinks in them, and then she took the wrapping that covered her feet. Sarah stood, and removed her impressive arsenal from her body. The equipment was carefully placed against a sturdy log. Sarah removed her red gloves, and then she reached for her braid. Jareth watched, transfixed, and she used her slender fingers to undo the plaits one by one. It fell down her back in impressive waves, and then she turned her head over and shook the hair out, making it seem like a wild mane, in need of taming. Ah, but who would want to tame a lioness like Sarah? To call her hair brown would have been an injustice. Call it bistre, call it espresso, call it dark chocolate, but never just call it brown. It shone, even with the dirt and blood matting areas of it. Sarah looked and caught the Goblin King staring.
"What?" Sarah asked, and then reached for the zipper that ran the length of her torso to her neck. Jareth could only gape as she drew the zipper down to where her thighs met, revealing the inner curves of her creamy breasts. Jareth kept his gaze steady, even with his heart beating a mile a minute. He watched as she shrugged the catsuit off her slender shoulders, and then she pushed it down to the ground. She gingerly stepped out of it, and then laid the red leather suit down on the log. Jareth took in her form: the long, muscular legs, the powerful arms, the flat stomach and the toned back muscles. Her bottom looked finely sculpted, and heart-shaped. Her breasts were round and her nipples were pink. She did not seem the least bit concerned with the fact that the areas that should not be showed to anyone but a lover were very visible, the tiny dark hairs trimmed to perfection. She looked like a lioness, a warrior woman, a perfect soldier, and someone who could wrap their legs around a man and give him great pleasure.
"Why are you staring at me?" Sarah asked, curious as to why the Goblin King was looking her over with keen interest. Enough men had looked at her that way. She knew that look, "Why, Your Majesty, do you wish to inspect me closer?"
Jareth arched an eyebrow and settled his mask into one of indifference, "If you have seen one female body, you have seen them all. You do not have anything I have not seen before, Sarah"
Sarah laughed a slightly tinkling laugh before making her way to the lake. She dove in, and she was greatly relieved to feel the water wash away all the blood she had shed. She then heard his voice call from shore.
"Sarah, do you routinely undress in front of men you hardly know?" Jareth asked, as he spied her wet body from shore.
"Yes,
from the time we are young. When our sexual education starts, we start undressing for inspection constantly," Sarah said.
"When is that?" Jareth asked.
"Oh, I'd say about eight or so? We come into the main chambers and they look us over constantly for blemishes and for any signs of weight gain. Weight would only slow us down. And then they take us away for our sexual training," Sarah said clearly from the water.
"Sarah, that's not normal," Jareth said, shaking his head. He wanted to puke. Children, forced to undress for inspection constantly, and then…
"What is normal?" Sarah asked idly, "Your voice shows you do not approve"
"Sarah, have you ever seen or visited any other children in the Aboveground, besides those in the Order?" Jareth asked.
"No, no, of course not. We are strictly forbidden. We are not even let outside the castle grounds until we have been fully educated. And even then, contact with children is forbidden," Sarah sighed.
"I wonder why?" Jareth asked sarcastically. He knew the answer. They couldn't have the Foundlings finding out that what was being done to them was not normal.
"What's with the questions?" Sarah asked.
"Sarah, what they do to you, what they did to you, it's illegal. It's wrong, it's immoral," Jareth told her in exasperation. Was the girl dense?
"You make it sound dirty! It is necessary for our courtesan training. We need to be comfortable with our bodies, other people's bodies, and with how to please both men and women very well. It is all preparation," Sarah said as she emerged from the water. She wrung out her hair and dripped water onto the shore.
"Sarah, when did you lose your virginity?" Jareth asked calmly. His blood was boiling and his heart broke for the innocence Sarah had lost, but he needed to know just how far this madness, this corruption went.
"Right after my test. I was fifteen when Founder Corsair brought me to the ritual room and deflowered me in front of the other Founders," Sarah almost whispered.
Jareth was not the warmest Fae, nor was he the most compassionate. But the pure idea that someone like Sarah had lost the last vestige of childhood, of innocence, in such a manner; without love or passion to soften the blow, was abhorrent. Who did they think they were, to destroy young girls like that?
"Sarah, do they do this to the boys also?" Jareth asked with a sneer.
"Of course. Toby will start his education in two years," Sarah said as she set to rebraiding her hair.
"Monstrous!" Jareth yelled as he jumped up.
"Calm down!"
"I do not want to calm down! How can you think this is okay? Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy their hands on you, their mouths on you? Did you enjoy feeling their body parts and forcing them into your mouth? Do you long for them when you are away? Is sex enjoyable to you? Do you want it? Is there any passion there? Do you want Toby to feel it? Do you want those bastards kissing him, feeling him, entering him? Do you want that for him, or for any other Foundling? Is that what you want? Is that normal and good to you?" Jareth asked, his face red and his pulse racing.
"We are marked, our paths are decided before we are even born. We are taken away from our parents at birth, and we never look back. It is our life, and we live it as we are destined!" Sarah yelled at him. Sarah tried never to let her emotions get the best of her, but with the Goblin King, all bets were off. He brought emotions to the surface she would rather suppress.
"A person chooses their own path. A person who thinks it is all laid out for them before they are even born is a weak-willed automaton that cannot face the truth about their life. You make your own destiny, Sarah. No one makes it for you. You keep spouting excuses that were drilled into your brain, you keep repeating it like a textbook. You are so much more than that Sarah. Would you please put some clothes on now?" Jareth asked her politely after his tirade.
"Why? Does my body disgust you?" Sarah asked snidely.
"You know it doesn't. If you are a trained courtesan then you know your body is up to that task. It is a beautiful body fit for the worthiest of men. But, I do not think that this is the time and place for it," Jareth told her.
"I have never taken pleasure in what they make me do, what they have made me do. Mark my words, Jareth: I know how to screw a man's brains out until he begs for more, but I have never enjoyed it. Not with anyone. This was the way I was raised, Goblin King. A Foundling, then a Found. I can squeeze you until you pop like warm champagne," Sarah made her way to where Jareth sat and knelt down in front of him, "but the pleasure would be yours alone. Don't you want this body? Don't you want that pleasure?" Sarah caressed his cheek and leaned into kiss that ageless face. Her lips were mere millimeters away before Jareth gently pushed her back. Her look changed from seductive to shocked, and then to angry and hurt.
Jareth stood up and looked down at Sarah, "Not like this. Not when I am weakened and my resolve is not at its best. I can't pretend you do not arouse me, but I will not have you like this. When it happens, I want it to be you asking for me. When it happens," Jareth held out his hand to help Sarah up, "I will be the one in control"
Sarah glared at him and turned to her blankets. She needed to dry out before she could put back on the catsuit. It would be impossible to put on while wet.
She had so many questions, and no answers. So many beliefs, shot through. She had no clue what to do, it was like being left adrift in a sea on confusion. She had been raised to believe that everything the Order did was good and just. She had been raised to believe that all they did was spy, seduce, and occasionally kill a bad person. Chances are, if Sarah was sent to kill you, you deserved it. She had never questioned anything they had ever told her, except for the day when her test had happened, and they had told her that it had all been faked. It wasn't real. But what was real? What was true? Lessons long engrained told her to trust what they had taught her, but instinct and heart told her different. It was like it was all clouded, with no end in sight. A miasma, a fog that made it all muddled and blurred.
Where was the sun to clear the way? Where was a gust of wind to sweep the darkness away?
Why did she feel like the answers were just around the corner, yet still out of reach?
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As King Jareth laid on his blankets that night, he knew he faced a major dilemma. What to do? What would his father do? What these people did to Sarah, and countless others, was wrong, but was it his place to close up the portal his father had helped open?
Prince Jareth was one of two sons born to King Idris and Queen Aeronwen of the Underground. The other son was his older brother, Mabon. Mabon was the heir to the Underground throne. While Mabon understood his duties and what was expected from him, he still strained at the leash, and slipped out from under it whenever he could. One day, in his haste to leave the castle, he jumped his horse over a bush without knowing what lie behind it. The slight slope behind the bush threw off his horse's stride. In turn, the horse threw Mabon, snapping his Fae neck. Fae can live forever, barring personal injury.
The funeral had been elaborate, and more in tune with what Mabon's parents wished, rather than with what Mabon would have wanted. When Mabon's pyre went up, Jareth walked away. Walked away from his mother and his father, and the leash that was soon to be his. He walked away, and did not come back until he received notice that his father had fallen ill.
Queen Aeronwen had been beside herself over the rift between her and Jareth. He was the only child she had left. And when King Idris passed away a few months later, Jareth was the only lifeline she had left. Jareth took over the ruling of the kingdom with little fuss and little muss, and his mother retired from the public spotlight. She did not outlast her beloved husband long, dying only three years after him.
And then there was only King Jareth of the Underground. The Goblin King. He gladly carried on the work his father had started, and he enjoyed his own pursuits. The Labyrinth, and other games he could play with lives that seemed trivial to others. That was all he did until the games all stopped the night he was abducted.
Sarah's life was not a game. And neither was his. Neither life was anyone's to play with. And Jareth would do all he could to make sure no one played with either of them again. Finally, he would take charge of it all.
If only his blasted magic would come back!
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Jareth was asleep when the dream came to him. The pieces now fit, it had become a clear memory in his dreamscape now.
The black haired woman wrapped her arms around him and used her ruby red lips to kiss him with a gentle, caressing motion. Jareth welcome the kiss, and opened his mouth gently, to allow her tongue access. He did not mind her short moments of dominance, it was a welcome thing, a subtle reminder of her strength. He sucked her tongue into his mouth and stroked it.
Morwen blurred before him, and then he felt himself falling away, slowly. She had let him go, and had let him drop to the floor. She opened the window and waited.
Jareth, lost in a partial dreamscape, had heard the beating of wings. Soon, a red demon entered the room. Morwen muffled the sound of breaking glass and staged the abduction scene, laughing her haughty laugh whenever she was pleased with herself.
"Naroof, take him through this window, so he gets some kind of injury. They need to believe he is very hurt," Morwen told the demon.
"When do I get to suck his soul?" Naroof asked.
"That is not my decision. Leave quickly," Morwen motioned for his departure. Morwen left soon after.
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"Wake up, Jareth. We should reach your kingdom by late today," Sarah told him. She had already packed and was waiting for him.
Jareth stood, and packed his own belongings. He walked as quickly as Sarah, eager to get home and to the bottom of this.
Meanings:
Aeronwen – "Blessed River" in Welsh
Idris – "Ardent Lord" in Welsh
Mabon – "Son" in Welsh