A/N: Thank you all so much for your continuous support, reviews and alerts. My real life is complicated right now, but thankfully I have this story fully outlined and arranged. If you have any suggestions for improvement or for later in the story, or just generalized questions, don't hesitate to leave a review or send a PM my way. Hopefully, this chapter should clear up some more of the questions that were brought up last chapter.
"For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. . . " (2 Peter 2:4)
The ground shook with anger as Jareth stared at the jackal-god, Anubis, considering his options carefully. The boy crossed his arms, uncomfortably deciding to stare at his shoes. He noticed Bast twirling around his legs again, chewing on his shoelace.
"Could you be a bit more help here?" he asked, exasperated and annoyed by the situation.
Bast sat up straight, licking a paw in disdain and puffing out her chest, improving her graceful posture. "I am above these petty squabbles. Besides, I am waiting for her to arrive so that-"
Confused, he interrupted, "Wait, hold on, her?"
Sighing, the cat slumped down again. "You're clueless. Anyway, she probably can't find us in this weather. Since your abilities at harnessing the power of this labyrinth are still awful, I'll give it a try."
Jareth glared at her, insulted, and took her silent response as an opportunity to study the strong, muscular man in front of him. Could he call the jackal-man a man? His skin was dark like tanned leather left out in the sun, gleaming with sweat, and his arms were the largest Jareth had ever seen up close (personally, he felt a bit scrawny in comparison). Beneath his skin, his veins bulged and pulsed, and Jareth did not doubt that Anubis would live up to his imposing physique.
"I do not recommend that you deny this offer from my master," Anubis spoke, interrupting Jareth from his thoughts. "While he can be beneficent, the devil does not play games."
Jareth's thoughts came to a complete screeching, abrupt stop. Sighing, Bast rolled her eyes and slouched even more.
"Wait, hold on- the devil? You mean, the real one? With hell and the underworld and everything?!"
"Stop that infernal trembling, and yes. Although I do not believe he requires us to go to Hell to meet him, as he has a castle here, in Purgatory," the jackal sighed, obviously frustrated with the child in front of him. "Didn't the Queen explain anything to him?" he asked, directing his statement towards the cat. Jareth tried to stop shaking, as he hadn't realized he was, but to no avail.
Bast looked up sheepishly, her green eyes glinting with the reflection of the storm. "I figured she was going to fill him in once he got to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth."
Thunder crashed again in the clouds and a large noise resembling a gunshot startled the three from their conversation. The subject of conversation appeared in front of them, a few feet away, dusting dirt off of her cloak and straightening her skirt.
"God, I hate just popping up all over the place," she sighed, trying to make herself look more presentable.
"Well, speak of the devil!" Jareth exclaimed, receiving glares from everyone involved. "Alright, bad expression, I'm sorry," he muttered.
Queen Sarah rolled her eyes and fixed her eyes on Anubis. "Tell Lucifer that, unfortunately, my guest is unable to attend a conference with him, as I am invoking his debt to me in my favor in this situation." She curtsied respectfully and the man lowered his gaze in respect, bowing in response.
Bast chuckled, flicking an ear back from her head as she laughed. "I didn't know that he was in your debt!"
Her majesty smiled in response, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "I've fixed a few problems for him, on a couple occasions. He owes me, even though he does not know how to play by the rules. I suppose you're wanting an explanation, Jareth?"
Jareth nodded, confused by the exchange and his head still reeling with thoughts of a red man with horns, a goatee and a pitchfork.
"Alright, I'm sorry, I still can't grasp this. Let me get this straight. We're the reincarnations of angels, this is Purgatory, I'm damned for all eternity, Caroline is not really my sister, and you die all the time but I'm supposed to be immortal?" Jareth spat out, stammering the entire way through his words in residual shock.
Sarah crossed her legs at the ankle and sighed, sitting in an elegantly carved oak chair at a table in the throne room. Jareth sat across from her, eyes bulging in shock and resting his head in his hands. The first few times she had tried to explain it to him, he almost passed out and required smelling salts and a few minutes after that to collect his racing thoughts. Bast was curled up at the other end of the table, yawning and opening an eye lazily every few minutes to observe the situation.
"That's not it," Sarah groaned, wincing in frustration. "Here, alright, one more time. I'll go slower. We'll try again?" she asked, and he nodded in response, rubbing his eyelids to get that glazed look out of his eyes.
"Okay, so, you had part of that right. We're angels. You and I. Or, rather, we used to be angels, now we're not. Now we're of the divine power, referred to in legend as the fae people.
"To clarify- God, The Devil, etc. are all completely real. There's a Heaven, a Hell, the Mortal Realms, referred to as Aboveground, and Purgatory, more commonly known as the Underground. However, magic, as you know it, truly exists. Just because there is a greater, common power does not mean that people cannot possess magic. All of these stories and legends that you hear- they're real. Or just bits and pieces of them, to an extent. All of this stuff comes together at some point.
"Your name was Sariel, and you were an angel of war. You saved David from Goliath, you helped Moses escape the Egyptians. However, you were greedy and power-hungry. You did not understand the limits of your power, and you were haunted by the fact that angels can be killed. Since you were constantly in combat, you saw death every day. You did not want to suffer at the hands of the devil.
"So you decided to revolt. You gathered together a band of power-hungry, obsessed followers, immortals and mortals alike. And you waged war on the heavens. To cut a long story short, you failed, and you were banished to Purgatory, forever dying and being reincarnated as your 'immortality,' which is a bit twisted. God's good at thinking up weird punishments like that." Sarah shrugged lightly and folded her hands in her lap.
Jareth blinked twice, trying to sort through the information. "Alright, so that would mean that right now, I'm a reincarnation of this Sariel person? And I've been reincarnated over and over?"
Bast laughed softly at the end of the table, flicking an ear back and grinning. "Not exactly, small one." Jareth's eyes were drawn to Sarah's pale, blushing face, with her rosy cheeks and full lips. Her cheekbones were angled and sharp, the harsh look betraying the softness of her features.
"You're right about the first part, but you have only been reincarnated once. I couldn't bear to see you suffer, and so I went to the Devil and made a deal- I took your punishment instead," she sighed, her long lashes fluttering in repose. "Maybe it was not the best of ideas, but ever since then I have lived so many mortal lives that it is impossible to keep up. I inherit the memories eventually of the one before me, and my name when I was born into this life was Sarah. And, currently, I am dying."
Stunned, Jareth let his words run through his mind again, letting the meaning really sink in. She... loved him? Or part of him, at least. Or who he used to be. This was a lot to think over. And she was dying?
Sarah smiled and continued "You died trying to save us, for... reasons that I cannot explain. And I bargained with the devil again, to bring you back. You were reincarnated as a mortal, and I chose to let you live under the same conditions I had lived in- for you to experience the same story. I see it's given you some insight. I re-wrote the legend, creating a 'Goblin Queen,' and placed that Labyrinth book in your room one evening. Fate took control, after that point."
"I haven't always been this nice?" He asked in response. What kind of man had he been?
Bast laughed at him again, a light jingling sound. "You were a bit of a terror. The magnificent 'Goblin King,' and you wore these horribly tight pants." Sarah blushed again, a deeper crimson staining her cheeks and causing her face to glow.
"It was fairly attractive, you know," the cat added, winking at Jareth.
Sarah stood up and walked around the table, her skirts swooshing behind her as she looked for something. "I can't remember where I placed them, I know they were somewhere in this room... aha!" She bent over a chair and picked up a tall stack of leather-bound books, some of them looking as old as museum relics.
Leaning over towards Jareth's seat, she dropped the books in front of him. "These are your journals, and I think I know how to give you your memories back." She leaned closer, placing her two hands on his forehead, her smooth skin touching his and causing him to shiver involuntarily.
The cat on the other end of the table sat up straighter, sharpening her gaze at the two humans. "Honestly, Sarah, maybe that's not such a good idea..."
"Nonsense!" Sarah replied, "He can handle it! It won't be a problem-"
Jareth struggled to focus as the woman's strong fingers began to pulse and throb, growing warm against his forehead. His thoughts grew fuzzy and intricate, and images were flashing against his eyelids, like he was watching a movie against the wall. He struggled to concentrate but he couldn't focus, letting his mind slip into a sea of green and gold, his hands starting to shake and
Mazes labyrinths wars deals devils everything and nothing intertwined how you turn my world you precious thing sitting in trees as an owl watching her grow up watching her live life watching her die over and over and over and Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah-
Sitting up with a shock, he gripped the arms of the chair, terrified. Years of memories and experiences that he could not recall suddenly became his life and everything he had ever known. He stared at the woman in front of him, two minutes ago a stranger becoming the woman he had known his entire life. She stared back, puzzled, as he contemplated his life before he had known and everything that he had become in this moment in time.
"I... I can't do this..." he muttered, trying to calm his shaking hands and watching the room spin around him. Standing up, the Goblin King stood tall, observing his castle and his life reform to become what he had previously known.
"Jareth, what's wrong?" Sarah asked quietly, her eyes darkening in concern and love for him.
He looked back at her and froze, his new memories instilling feelings and emotions that he could not explain.
Turning around suddenly, he ran out of the room, envisioning himself anywhere but there, being anywhere but with her.