I just have to say that I am so happy with all the reviews I got last time… I love you guys! Lady hugs everyone, even Jareth Er, sorry. Overdose on red cordial…
And just one more thing… STOP POKING ME WITH PITCHFORKS! I HAVE ALREADY BEEN PELTED WITH POPCORN TODAY BY ANGEL OF SAPCE, I DO NOT NEED TO BE ATTACKED WITH FARM TOOLS BY MY REVIEWERS!
That said and done, here are the special notes!
BOWIEgirl- Well, as much as I hate to say it, Sarah is taking care of that…
lilpyro900- yeah- I agree with you (but I won't say it out loud- Jareth is listening…)
Mord-Sith Raal- YES! Jareth is VERY ticklish! I have won sooo many tickle fights against him. You can check out the score wall if you like.
Moonjava- thanks a whole lot
Dragoneyes171986- thankyouatsuibelulah- oh- thanks for the kiss- I feel loved…
Kateya- OOH, THANKYOU! Whoa you have a cool name… I love knowing that there is someone on my side- the side on the opposite side of the mob…
crazy07- AHHHH! NO! DON'T BURN MY TOAST! I'M BEGGING YOU- NOOOO!
Petra- here you go, my new reviewer!
Ok- guys, sorry I put the chapter up before the shout outs but, hey, my computer can only take SO much. Now, I have changed the first chappie EVER so slightly, so you may wanna check that out.
Me no own laby. Me wish did, but.
Chapter Twelve
Questions, Questions
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Jareth transported them both to the sandstone part of the Labyrinth- the part that changes more readily than others, for, of course, the Labyrinth is forever changing- except when it was in this state.
Sarah put a pale shaking hand on the light stone that shone a kind of tarnished gold in the setting sun. Little granules of rubble crumbled down under her fingers.
'What happened?' asked Sarah, repeating what she had said scarce a minute before.
Jareth sighed, readying himself for something he really didn't want to do. 'Well, let me start at what is happening to the Labyrinth: it is dying. And it's dying…because it thinks- it feels- that I'm dying.'
Sarah grabbed his arm as if to make sure that he was still there. 'What? Why would it think something like that?'
'Well, it doesn't really 'think'… It sort of channels its ruler's emotions, which makes being the Goblin King a very tricky job.
'The Labyrinth echoes the emotions it channels. If, say, I'm happy, it will be green and flourish. If I'm… depressed… well, it's like this,' Jareth gestured around him.
While Jareth had been talking the temperature had dropped several degrees and a chill wind had swept through the stone corridor.
Sarah shivered but kept her eyes trained on Jareth.
Jareth saw Sarah shiver and whipped off his cloak, settling it around her shoulders. 'It's getting cold. Maybe we should go back to the castle.'
Sarah shook her head wildly. 'No, I want to see more. And I want to know what you're not telling me.'
'Alright, we'll stay. But let's walk to warm up.'
Sarah nodded and took Jareth's outstretched arm.
Jareth lead Sarah through the cold and darkening Labyrinth.
And while they walked, Jareth talked.
'I've… not been feeling my best… for a while now. And this is the result.'
Sarah nodded again and then gasped in shock; they had just reached the doors that were usually protected by the four dog-guards. The guards were gone. Their doors had been ripped from the wall and flung to the ground, crumbling away and covered in vines.
Sarah stepped closer to the door on the right, the one she had gone through when she had run the Labyrinth.
Jareth smiled wanly. 'You chose the right one, you know. You just have to step over the pit.' He helped Sarah over the oubliette pit and led her down the path beyond.
In less than five minutes, they had entered the hedge maze.
'Wow,' said Sarah, 'Imagine all the time I'd've saved if I'd come this way!' The she got a good look at her surroundings, a good look at the wilted, brown and bare hedges, at the cracked and rubbly stone floor.
She touched a wilted plant and watched in horror as it collapsed and crumbled away. 'When did all this happen?'
This was a question that Jareth was not prepared for. 'Well… It … uh… happened…' he stalled hesitantly.
'It happened after I left, didn't it?' asked Sarah in a dead voice.
Jareth looked at her in surprise. 'How did you know?'
'Hoggle has been worried about something for a long time. He wouldn't tell me what he was worried about- but I guess now he doesn't have to.'
Jareth tried desperately to think of something to say to her that would lead her away from this dangerous topic of conversation. However, before he could:
'It's because of me, isn't it?'
Jareth closed his eyes in defeat then looked into her bright green ones, readying himself for the tears, the tantrums, the utter humiliation of what she would doubtlessly say. Sarah ended up saying nothing as crushing to him (or his ego) as to herself.
'It's my fault you were upset. It must be! I mean, how many times does a grand King get beaten at his own game by a stupid mortal girl?'
Jareth flinched at her choice of words, but Sarah was far beyond noticing him.
'So all this,' Sarah waved an arm around her, 'is my fault.' She wasn't asking a question; she was saying the facts out loud, trying not to believe herself.
Jareth nodded needlessly. 'Yes.'
Sarah looked around her again, feeling her face crumple. Two silver tears slid from her eyes and her vision blurred, hazing the dead hedges and distorting Jareth. 'I suck,' she said, her voice breaking. 'I should die right now. This isn't right. It isn't fair on everyone who lives here.'
'Now that's just not true; the castle wasn't affected,' said Jareth hopefully. He wiped away one of Sarah's tears and let his gloved hand trail down her cheek.
Sarah looked down at the floor and sniffed sadly. 'So the people living at the castle can live happily for a little while longer, but they're the minority, Jareth. What about the majority? If I were you I'd lock me in an oubliette for the rest of eternity,' she said plaintively.
Jareth didn't speak. He had been studying her face, almost shocked at how much the devastation of his kingdom had affected her. He had followed one of her tears progress down her cheek then as it dripped off her chin… Dripped onto the floor of the pathway and near the roots of one of the saddened hedges… and hit something that one who had been in this environment for too long would think a miracle…
He hadn't been out in his Labyrinth since Sarah's return to the Underground so he had yet to detect a few changes to his realm, but this little seemingly insignificant thing he did notice. He knelt down near the hedge and brushed away a few pebbles, uncovering the treasure he had seen.
'Wh-what is it?' asked Sarah hesitantly.
'Something you might want to see before you ask me to answer your previous question,' Jareth said slyly.
Sarah narrowed her eyes cautiously at the smirk on his face.
'Look,' said Jareth.
Sarah knelt down next to Jareth and looked. Under the pebbles and leaf litter of the dying hedge maze was a single shoot. A green, living, thriving shoot.
Sarah looked back to Jareth, a delighted grin on her face. Jareth grinned at the beautiful expression on her face, shinning like a sun in his dull existence as a king in a collapsing land, bringing him hope for the future, his future.
'It seems like if I sent you away,' he helped Sarah back to her feet, 'the labyrinth would never forgive me.'
Sarah nodded, still smiling. It felt like there was a great big balloon in her chest, swelling with happiness. It seemed to her that it would never deflate.
'Now,' said Jareth, his tone serious, 'we should go back to the castle for dinner. And I think Gwyn will have made your medicines by now.'
Sarah nodded again and took his arm.
They were gone in a flurry of silver dust motes, lighting up the little shoot for just a moment.