Chapter 12: Dreams and Memories

She glared.

"I am not making this up, Jareth! How could you even think that? Would I lie to you if it was important? Would I make things like this up? You idiot! Why do I even bother trying to make you see?"

Jareth sat on the chair and let her tirade wash over him. Her dress was a stormy blue, which looked quite fetching on her, actually. Her face was flushed from running to find him and her eyes were still the tiniest bit red from crying. She had had quite the dream. She had dreamed about Deram talking to a Bounty Hunter, but that hadn't told Jareth anything new. He knew his brother wanted him dead. The girl was going to have to try a little harder.

"I'm wasting my breath." she said as she slumped into a chair.

"You wouldn't be if you told me what provoked such fear in you. My brother wants me dead, no news there. He hired his own Bounty Hunter, and the best there is based on your description, I'm flattered, but not impressed. I still do not see what caused such fear in you."

She shuddered and her dress became inky black, "It seemed like I could… feel his… hate, anger… insanity. He's being commanded. Deram wants you dead, yes, but this thing that is commanding Deram wants you annihilated. It's driving him mad: he's not sleeping, hardly eating. He's destroying himself because of this thing, this… evil… thing! I don't know what it is but…"

Jareth walked over to where she sat and knelt down beside her. "There, there, little one," he murmured as he brushed away her tears, "He'll never find us here. We're safe here, Mathis will look after us and all will be well."

"No Jareth, it won't. I have this terrible feeling about it all. I feel like… Oh, pooh! I don't know what I feel. I just… Ugh!"

"Perhaps we shall speak with Mathis? He seems to know more than I had thought. Maybe he can identify this evil that you perceived in dreams."

Alex nodded and her dress changed to a deep emerald green. Good, her thoughts were guarded, she was still afraid, but those simple words had given her hope. He led her through the twisting halls that he had already began to grow accustomed to and together they found Mathis studying a large tome.

He didn't seem to see them enter, his brow was furrowed and his eyes stared unblinking at the page before him. After a few seconds he growled and slammed the massive manuscript shut with a dull, but loud, thud and a cloud of dry dust. He looked at them in exasperation for a few seconds before shaking his head and muttering something lost on them altogether.

"I'm sorry, did we…?" Alex began.

"No, no… you didn't do anything. That confounded book has been giving me problems for the past week. It keeps on about some dreadful omen and won't give me the information that I want. Honestly, you'd think I get enough snide remarks from the people in the Haven that I don't need it from my books as well. Did you need something?"

Jareth frowned, "What 'dreadful omens' does the book go on about?"

Mathis frowned and busied himself with cleaning up around his desk.

"It just that…" Alex began, but shuddered as she remembered the feeling that she had gotten from the dream.

Mathis noticed her now-black attire and looked at Jareth, "She had a dream last night about Deram and a Bounty Hunter and some evil that she could not place."

"Best tell me the whole thing, dear." Mathis whispered as he pulled up a chair for her.

Alex sat down and stared at her hands for a time before beginning. "Deram was angry at a Bounty Hunter for letting Jareth and I escape through the hidden door. The Hunter said that the path was untraceable and there was no way to find us. Deram made him go keep looking and started his own search. He was in a frenzied state, almost as if he had a deadline, literally. Someone wants him to find Jareth and kill him. I felt it. It was evil, so evil. Cold, hard, uncaring, ruthless… And it wants Jareth dead."

Mathis' face became a hard mask of self-control, "Would you recognize that feeling if you were to feel it again?"

"I'll never forget it."

He nodded thoughtfully, then said, "Jareth, I'll need you to leave her here with me. There may be things that are best left unknown. I'll tell you all I can after I'm done with her, but I need her full attention right now."

"What if…" He trailed off, his gaze on Alex and realized that she needed him to trust Mathis now. He sighed and walked out the door. He had changed a lot since meeting Alex: she fostered trust in him, not anger, not rage. He was learning to forgive. As much as it irked him, he realized that forgiveness might be exactly what he needed to give this man. He knew now that he must give Mathis this chance, he truly seemed to care about Alex. Let him prove himself now.

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Alex watched in fascination as Mathis pulled a large book off of a nearby shelf. He flipped through it quickly and mumbled to himself. After some awkward moments he apparently found what he was looking for, and busied himself by preparing some spell. The only contact with magic that she had ever had was with Jareth's spells that were simply thoughts made manifest through power channeled through one's own body. Mathis seemed to be preparing some sort of chant with the proper powders and everything.

Eventually he was ready and Alex felt a wave of power wash over her that she had come to identify as a being drawing magic. He was strong, stronger than Jareth, who, she had been told, was exceptionally strong with magic. The feeling intensified as he began to drone ancient words of power and Alex was doing all she could to keep from becoming lost in the sudden darkness that engulfed her. All her senses became lost except her hearing, which had become extraordinarily confused. It seemed as if three voices spoke at varying tones and speeds.

Finally it stopped and Alex stood in front of Mathis in the courtyard of some sandstone castle. She was surprised to see tears in his eyes as he watched two people walking around. Realization hit her hard when the man she was watching turned in her direction to look at the sky: it was a younger Mathis. The woman beside him must be his wife; she held one hand her bulging belly, her thin form seeming hardly capable of handling the extra weight of her unborn son.

"Get inside, love." the young Mathis breathed staring at the swiftly approaching and ominous clouds gathering in the sky. "He's here. He's come for me, for Jareth, for the Labyrinth."

"Who has come? What is going on? You've been so fearful lately."

"The Lich, the Undead One, he has come for me!" Mathis wailed above the tumultuous wind that had suddenly begun to grow in intensity. His hands glowed with magical energy and the air around him crackled as he strove to hold the terrible evil at bay. His wife would not run she called upon her powers as well, dangerous as it was to use them while with child. Together they fought, but they couldn't withstand such hate.

A being of pure evil manifested itself before the two of them. He was pale as death, black robes hung in tatters about him, yet seemed insubstantial, as if he had picked up a shadow off the ground and donned it as his own suit of mage's clothes. Long, white hands and fingers ended in long fingernails. He held himself proudly, almost daintily stepping on the cool stone with his bare feet. His long, black hair flowed about him as if he was under water, and his eyes were blood red.

"Mathis, why are you fighting me? I could give you so much. I would allow your wife and son to live, I would allow you to rule the Labyrinth under me. I would give you so many secrets, dark secrets that the Council would never allow you to uncover. Take my hand, Mathis, and I will spare all you love." whispered the terrifying being before them. Mathis began to weep as he looked at the beautiful, deadly, evil man before him. Hate and anger washed around him like tangible waves. Evil seemed to become visible to his eyes as he wrestled with himself over his desires.

In the end, heroism won out and he did the right thing, he said no. Alex didn't see the rest of the memory; she knew that he had only wanted her to see the evil that had destroyed his life. She looked at Mathis who sat on the floor in front of her, his skin was ashen and tears ran freely down his face. "Was it him?" Mathis whispered.

Alex nodded, "That was the evil that I felt guiding Deram."

"Then you and Jareth are not the only ones in grave danger. I must… ugh…" Mathis tried to stand and failed, his strength all but completely lost. "Not as young as I once was. Showing memories that strong… that's hard work. Run along and tell Jareth that all is fine. I'll think on what you have shown me, and come up with some decision. I hope that we don't have to fight him but that point may be moot. Run along, little one, I will think on this."

Alex nodded again and headed for the door. Before leaving, she glanced back at Mathis: crumpled on the floor, humming some long forgotten tune. It was strange, but it seemed familiar somehow… She shook her head and headed off to find Jareth.

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"What did he have to say?" Jareth demanded.

"Not much really, he just wanted to know if the feeling I had from the dream was the same evil thing that he had faced when his wife died."

"Was it?"

Alex nodded silently, her dress flowing to a dark silvery color: she was thinking, and she was worried. Jareth silently thanked himself for paying attention to Luc and his robes, he could read these colors so easily, now. The silver suddenly brightened as Alex looked up at him. "Yes?" he asked.

"Well, whatever that evil thing is, we'll have Mathis to help us."

Jareth chuckled, "Indeed we shall. I wonder, however, how strong he shall prove when dealing with such a creature. Not only the evil, but the memory of what has happened before."

Alex smiled, "I think you're on to something, Jareth."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're beginning to feel sorry for him. Maybe even a little sorry that you contributed to the state he was in."

"Perhaps…" Jareth said slowly.

"Perhaps?" she asked quietly.

He sighed, "Yes. Yes I am beginning to feel sorry for him."

"Good."

"Good? I thought you wanted more than that?"

She giggled as she shook her head, "I guess you're not as far along as I had thought. Feeling sorry for him is the beginning, if you keep going down the path, eventually it will lead to forgiveness."

He looked at her skeptically, "Truly?"

"Ugh! You've a thicker head than Lilly, and that's saying something!"

They both laughed, and passed some more time in idle chatter. He simply enjoyed spending time with her. She was so… hmm. She read emotion in others very well, she understood people. She knew what to say and when, and she knew how to make him laugh. Really laugh, not just that maniacal cackle that he used to use. She was… perfect.

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Lilly looked at the book on the dresser. The Labyrinth, that was the title. A story about the Goblin King and a mortal girl. The story that had caused Sarah to wish her little brother away to the Goblins. The story that had caused Jareth to keep tabs on Sarah out of spite. The story that had caused Alex to fall in love with him. The story that had taken her away.

The more Lilly thought about the chain of events that led to Alex's disappearance, the more she thought that it couldn't be coincidence. Alex had been meant for Jareth, hadn't she? From before she was born, she was destined to fall in love with him. Lilly frowned, she didn't put a whole lot of stock in that. Somebody had orchestrated events. A person, human or not, had made these things happen. Someone had had to write that book, and it had to have gotten to Sarah somehow.

Lilly knew Jareth wouldn't let anything happen to Alex if he could prevent it, but she also knew that there were things beyond his control. Lilly would find a way to help Jareth and Alex, because she felt it in her heart: something was going wrong. She would find whoever gave the book to Sarah. She would find whoever wrote the book. She would find whoever wanted Alex and Jareth together. She would never abandon her friend. Never.