Title: Whispers
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me.
Author: Anisky
Summary: He drove her to the brink of madness, until she gave herself to make it stop. Now she's in the darkness and she doesn't understand the game, the rules, or how to win. J/S
A/N: Thanks so much to all my reviewers! Sorry I didn't thank you in the previous chapter-- I just got a new computer so figuring out how to get the editing to work on was a bit difficult. Stay tuned for thanks at the end though!
---
---
Chapter 3
"While I was on my way through, all I really thought about was getting my brother back," she admitted. "Anything else was just at the back of my mind, could be dealt with later, after my… my quest was fulfilled."
"Well then, how very fortuitous that now qualifies," his voice ceased to be disembodied in her mind as the tone simply could not be unaccompanied by a smirk. She could imagine his face only vaguely-- she had seen him only out of the corners of her eyes for that seemingly eternal stretch of time, probably only having ended a few hours or perhaps days ago but now firmly entrenched in the recesses of long, long ago, which her mind was beginning to dub 'the Whispering'. "So let us continue our discussion. You have solved the Labyrinth and bested the King of the Goblins at his own game. You expected to return to your old life, wiser and more mature perhaps, making better decisions, but fundamentally the same. Did you really expect to be satisfied with that?"
"Yes."
"Oh?" She imagined him elegantly raising an eyebrow, as she had seen him do during her journey through the Labyrinth.
Sarah hesitated.
Could he read her mind? If so, could he see what she was thinking and speculate from there, or did his insights cut deeper than her own? He did not respond to the thought, but that did not mean that he did not know of it. It didn't mean that he didn't, either, and Sarah knew that she would be much more comfortable (comparatively speaking, of course) believing that he could not know what she was thinking any more than any perceptive and intelligent person would.
"At first I would just be glad that I had managed to save Toby, proud that I had such a mysterious adventure, content to see my friends and hear from them about the fantasy world," Sarah decided to simply be honest, as there was really nothing else to do besides talk here, anyway, and perhaps cooperating would ward off another alarming emotional attack. "I never thought beyond that."
"On the surface," he pressed.
She nodded, then she felt silly that she would nod when it was dark, remembered that he could see after all, and felt silly for having felt silly.
"Earlier, you admitted that you would have been dissatisfied after a while. Why?"
"You're the one who said it," Sarah felt strangely sulky. She realized suddenly that she was standing, though she could not for the life of her remember actually standing up. The ground beneath her feet felt solid, though she knew that she had been sitting on a soft cushion like surface before. "How am I supposed to know?"
"They're your dreams."
"If I'm so selfish and just think the world revolves around me too much, why do you care so much about my dreams?"
"Perhaps it does."
His hair was silly, Sarah thought irrelevantly. "What do you want from me?"
"Why would you have been dissatisfied, Sarah?"
She gave up and decided to cooperate. She imagined it: Going out on dates. A nice boy with dark hair and nice eyes she meets in college. He kisses her and tells her he loves her. She says she loves him too. They get married and live in a nice house.
"It's boring," she answered both the voice and herself as the words made their way through their queer echo-not-echo.
"Not enough excitement after your fleeting taste of adventure as a teenager? You are in need of another adventure, perhaps?"
Sarah supposed so.
"What kind of adventure do you go on, Sarah?" Was it just her imagination, or had the Goblin King's voice taken on a slightly urgent note?
"Well," she spoke slowly, considering, "it could be a lot of things. Maybe it would be the Labyrinth again, but for a different reason. I wouldn't wish somebody away again." She paused. "It wouldn't need to be the Labyrinth, but it could be."
"Would your friends be there?"
"Yes. All of them. I would meet new friends, too, on the way. I wouldn't just be running the Labyrinth again-- it would be something new, that I haven't even thought of yet." Sarah found herself becoming exhilarated as she spoke. "Reliving a story was enough as a child, but when I'm older I would discover new things, beyond the boundaries of the book and into new lands, unexpected creatures… And… when I ran the Labyrinth the first time, I knew exactly what I had to do. The same thing as in the book, and anyway you told me-- find my way to the center of the maze, say the words. This time it wouldn't be so planned out. I--we--wouldn't know exactly what was happening at first, or how to solve things. We would have to figure it out as we went."
"And the illustrious man in your life? Does he participate?"
"…Yes." Sarah tried to imagine her good-tempered boy with kind eyes in her fantasy world. No matter how she tried to make it fit, it didn't work. "Well, no."
"No? Why ever not?"
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do."
Sarah pursed her lips and considered. "He's… a very nice guy. Nice capable hands. And funny. He makes people laugh. But he's very down to earth. I'm too flighty. I want to be an actress, but I know how hard it is to make it in the real world. I'm a dreamer, so I want him to keep me grounded. He's the nice, dependable one, doing something realistic so that we can have a house and food and support children. He likes that I'm a dreamer. He thinks it's cute, he finds it endearing, but he doesn't understand. He'd be lost in a fantasy world."
"Nice." Jareth's voice was completely flat, empty. It didn't even have that strange echo. "Dependable. Funny." The last word finally had emotion as he spat it out in complete disgust, as though it were something repulsive, much more vile than a mere word (and a rather pleasant word at that, Sarah thought).
"What?" Sarah asked in confusion.
"Is this how you value your dreams?" Hands grabbed her shoulders roughly and she cried out in surprise at the sudden shock of contact. He had not touched her in so long and his sudden brutal grip caught her by surprise. "Is that what you turned me down for? Down to earth? Makes people laugh? Realistic?"
Something in his tone sent a deep pain welling up throughout her body, though Sarah did not understand why. It left an empty, aching feeling somewhere in her chest, and it was all that she could do not to weep.
"I--I--" Sarah swallowed and tried to speak, but in the face of such strong, fathomless emotion any words at all seemed inadequate and the words that came out sounded particularly lame. "You said I was dissatisfied," she whispered to him.
He gave a growling sound, a rough fury and misery rumbling low in his throat.
"It's not even real!" she screamed at him suddenly, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "You told me to make it up and I am! None of it's happened!"
"It's what you looked forward to as you dismissed me without a second thought!" If Sarah had thought he had sounded harsh before, it was nothing compared the bitterness his voice held now. His fingers dug into her arms and it sent her over the edge, an anguished cry escaping from between her lips as she felt sobs wracking her body without even being sure why.
Her knees gave out and she began to collapse to the floor. As she keeled over she heard his sharp intake of breath right before two strong arms encircled her, lifting her up, pulling her firmly but gently against a lean, warm body. One hand pressed against her cheek, pushing her head against his chest. She kept crying as she clung to him for dear life. He stroked her hair gently. "Shh," he whispered to her. It was said without a hint of mocking, without a hint of malice, and it reminded Sarah of the strangeness of the moment.
"Why are you being so nice?" she whispered back, tears subsiding as she stood in the comforting embrace.
"I do not know." His voice was unguarded now. Sarah had no idea what to think. "I didn't expect to reveal so much, so soon. I find myself quite vexingly unable to keep to my plans in your presence."
"What have you revealed? I don't understand," Sarah whispered, closing her eyes, desperately to understand what was happening.
"You are still mad," disgust crept into his voice again and Sarah gasped in terror as he moved to extricate himself from his grip.
She clung to him for dear life, "No, please, no, don't go! I'm sorry! I don't mean to be! I'm sorry I'm so disgusting to you!"
To her infinite, indescribable relief, he remained, tightening his arms around her again. "Sarah, Sarah, it was not you who disgusted me, I promise you. It is I who drove you mad, after all."
But Sarah didn't mind, she couldn't mind, not when there was such an aching in her heart and there was nobody but him in her world. "Please, make me understand," she begged him.
He hesitated for a very long time, so long that for a moment she wondered if he would answer at all. Finally, he spoke.
---
A/N: Ah, finally the King displays emotions!
Anyway, a great big THANK YOU to all my lovely reviewers: Rai Medvedsky- (x2)thanks for reviewing twice, and so quickly! You were always my first review and it made me very happy. :) Glad to know that my attempts to get across Sarah's insanity through her odd mental processes worked! Thanks! White Rose Withering- (x2)you too, to the reviewing twice, always a first review! it's very exciting, Lake of Fire- Hey, if my fic isn't coherent, your review doesn't have to be! I'm glad you're liking it. I hope it continues to stay unique-- it's really tough in the Labyverse, to stop from rehashing the same basic plot over and over. Anij(x2)-haha, yes it was, but we all know our sexy Jareth is very cruel, Mikki-:) Again, glad to know my attempts at her mental state and at a change from most Laby fics have been working! Siorsa-Hope as Sarah becomes a bit more coherent/sane it continues to be intriguing. I'll try to look out for the hes and hers, thanks-- feel free to point any out if I miss them, they're hard to spot during a quick once-over. Stella Cosmopolita- has this been soon enough:) anon, enchantednight84, Forevermore33(x2), GreyKing(x2)- seeing as it's nothing but their interactions (and Sarah's with herself), that's certainly a saving grace:-D Thanks, Hidden Rose- Sorry, I'd wanted to get author's notes and thanks up but my access to internet was nebulous, at best, so I took it down wanting to edit it to have that stuff but ultimately decided that getting the chater to you was more important than the paperwork. ;) anon possibly the same as before, but hard to say, darkcatlover, alias-allia-sorry, it's all already written and it's currently without sex scenes-- that could theoretically change in a rewrite, once there it would make sense in context with very little change, but as of now... sorry :P, katiebabs.
Please leave a contribution in the little box!