A Crystal for a Crystal
Chapter 3
One thing that you didn't like, were the comments that came from Cassandra's mouth. "This coming from the one that pushed me down the stairs?!" you yelled angrily, causing the doctor to look down at Cassandra.
"You pushed her down the stairs?" you doctor asked, his brows furrowed.
"No! Can't you see that she's delusional?" she exclaimed, pointing at you. You merely glared at her, having heard enough.
"Just get me out of here, just get me out of here" you whispered quietly to yourself, just wishing that you could disappear from that place.
Suddenly, the lights go out, leaving nothing but darkness around you and a familiar voice saying, "Run…get out of here and run Crystal" the voice called out to you. Quickly, you obeyed, grabbing Jareth as you ran. Soon after, the lights came back on, leaving everyone else in confusion
"Where did she go!?" Cassandra yelled, looking around the now vacant room.
"She's escaped" the doctor said, quickly running to the phone and reporting it, security quickly searching the hospital for you. You ran down the hall, eventually coming to a dead end.
"There she is" an officer said, coming toward her, that's when she heard the voice again.
"Jump…you must jump" the mans voice said. She looked around, trying to find someone, but there was no one there. She looked behind her at the open window. "Jump Crystal…" he said. Was he crazy? You were 5 stories up in the building. "You must jump…now Crystal!" the voice called, Jareth flying out of your arms and through the window, calling to you. So, biting your lip, you quickly turned and jumped out of the window. "Close your eyes and trust me" he said, and so that's what you did, slowly feeling yourself disappear. "That's my girl…" he said quietly, his voice disappeared as well.
You laid there, floating in a dream, floating in water almost. There didn't seem to be anything around you at all, just pure nothingness. That is, until an owl came to set beside you, the floating turning to solid ground beneath you.
That's when you woke up, laying on the ground in your normal clothes, Jareth sitting right beside you with slightly ruffled feathers.
"Jareth…what…what happened?" you asked, looking at him, though you knew that you would get no answer. You sighed. "I keep forgetting that you can't talk…" you said quietly, looking down at him as you sat up into a more comfortable position. You rubbed your neck a bit, feeling the soreness in it. "Wait a sec…" you quickly looked around you. "The park, but…how…why…I mean…" you closed your eyes, falling backward into a dizzying faint.
Once again, you laid there. This time, you were staring up at the night sky, a shooting star flying over head. You shot up quickly into a sitting position, before making a wish.
"I wish someone would take me far away from here" you said, your mind slowly traveling to that man you had seen. "That he would take me from this hellish realm" you said quietly before whispering his name. "…Jareth…" you said.
"Yes my dear?" came a voice behind you. Slowly, you turned around, your eyes meeting blue and brown. It was him, he was here.
"But…how?" you asked quietly. He just smiled, walking over to you, crouching down in front of you.
"Crystal, Crystal, Crystal. How many times must we go over this?" he asked, a light chuckle coming up from his chest. Quietly, he formed a small sphere in his hand, holding it out to you. "A crystal for a crystal" he said, smiling, before placing it in your hands. You looked at him, not sure what to do. Suddenly, his gloved hand was on your cheek, him leaning over toward you. You looked at him nervously as he brought his lips to your ear. "Time to wake up my dear…" he said quietly, and then everything went black.~
Quickly, you shot up from where you were sitting, sweating beading your face. You then collapsed back onto the ground, looking up at the night sky as a shooting star made its way over head. Quietly, you made your silent wish. I wish he were here.
"You know, it's very unbecoming of a young lady, laying there like that" came a voice. Quickly, you sat up, looking around frantically.
"Where?" you spoke quietly, looking around. The voice laughed lightly, a chuckle resonating through the crisp night air.
"Over here my dear" the voice called, standing about several yards away from you. You turned your head, a slight gasp escaping your lips. "Surely I'm not that stunning am I?" the voice asked, before coming into the light a bit more.
"You…who…who are you?" you asked quietly, looking over at him as he slowly starting walking toward you a bit more. Once he reached you, he crouched down in front of you.
"Crystal, Crystal, Crystal. How many times must we go over this?" he asked, a light chuckle coming from his chest. The dream…she thought quietly to herself. Crystal, Crystal, Crystal. How many times must we go over this? You stared at him as he produced a small sphere in his hand, holding it out to you. The crystal… "A crystal for a crystal" he said, smiling, before placing it in your hands. Just like in the dream, you looked up at him, not really sure what to do. And also like in the dream, his gloved hand was placed on your cheek, with him leaning over toward you. You just closed your eyes as he brought his lips to your ear. "All you have to do is call upon me dear, soon you will be free, just call upon me" he said quietly, before pulling away and placing a small kiss upon your forehead.
"Who are you?" you asked quietly, still staring at him. He sighed quietly, a small smile on his face as he turned his eyes toward you.
"Why my dear, my name is Jareth, remember?" he asked, smiling at you. You sat there for a moment, dumb struck.
"Jareth…" you whispered. "But that means…" you looked to where your owl had been, to find that it was no longer there. "Then…you're…" she couldn't find the words, but he nodded.
"Yes, it would seem as though you've figured it out my dear" he said, smiling at her. "You have indeed figured it out." He was the owl…he was your friend…the voice in your head…he was…Jareth. Slowly, you stood up, Jareth following your actions. He just smiled at you as you looked at him. His eyes, two different colors. The right one was blue and the left one was brown, so different, but unique. "Are you alright my dear?" he asked curiously, watching your footing.
"How…how is it that I'm here?" you asked, looking up into his eyes, your breath catching in your throat slightly at the thought.
"Why, what do you mean my dear?" he asked, smiling at you. You just looked at him strangely for a moment.
"You…you're the one that…that told me to jump" you said quietly, looking at the ground. Realization seemed to dawn on him then.
"Ah, I see. Yes, you see my dear Crystal, it's a little something that I like to call 'magic'" he told you, placing the tip of his finger on the crystal that he had given to you. "Like this for instance" he said, and before your eyes, it turned into a large bunch of butterflies flying around you. You let out a light giggle as the tiny winged creatures fluttered around you, flying in the faint breeze that went around your body.
"Amazing…" you said, a small smile forming on your lips.
"You liked that did you?" he asked. You nodded your head anxiously, watching as he smiled at you. "Well, what about this then?" he said, then with the flick of his wrist, the butterflies were gone. You looked around, trying to find them, but found that you had no luck in the matter. Though, you saw that your crystal was in front of you and Jareth quickly transformed into an owl. Your owl.
"J-Jareth?" you stuttered, looking at the bird.
"Yes my dear?" came his voice from the bird. You nearly fell over upon hearing this.
"So…it really is you then?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so" he told you, bowing his head.
"Then…if you were the owl all along…" you looked down at your hand, still red. "Why…why did you bite me?" you asked, turning your head to look at him. He twisted his head around to look at you.
"I do apologize for that my dear. I'm afraid that you startled me. In fact, I was afraid that it was that monstrosity of a child again, what was her name?"
"Cassandra…" you said bitterly, running the tip of your finger over his feathers, this seemed to put him a ease.
"Ah…she's the one that caused you to burn your hand, yes?" he asked, looking at you, his neck still twisted to look straight at you.
"Yes, she is" you told him, continuing to pet his feathers, smoothing them with the touch of your finger. "I never really have liked her that much…she's the reason why my hair is like this" you told him, pulling at your hair for emphasis. A few moments later, he turned back into a man, grabbing hold of you wrist in mid stroke. You blushed lightly at this. Quietly, he picked at your hair a bit, looking at it.
"It sort of reminds me of mine" he said, a light air chuckle escaping his lips. She looked at him for a moment.
"It does…doesn't it?" she said quietly to herself. He gave her a small smile.
"Albeit a bit choppier than mine, but still, I could always help you fix it if you like?" He looked at your face for a moment. You shook your head.
"I'll just let it grow back, no matter how much I hate it…" you said quietly. He pretended to be hurt.
"So, you hate my hair do you?" he asked, trying to cover up the smile on his face.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I didn't mean it like that" you said quickly, trying to correct yourself. "It's just that on me I really don't think that it looks that great" you said, trying your best to make up for your slip of the tongue. He just laughed a bit.
"Don't worry my dear, I know that you didn't mean anything by it, I just like having a bit of fun every now and then" he said truthfully. You blinked, feeling your face heat up. He had a sly smile on his face as he looked at you. "Now, why so red my dear?" he asked, causing you to look away in embarrassment. You didn't like people pulling jokes on you. "I do apologize dear, I didn't mean to make fun" he said coolly.
You yawned quietly, turning back to the sky after a moment, though the yawn did not go over looked by Jareth. "You're tired" he said, placing a hand on your shoulder. You just shook your head, trying to cover it up.
"No, I'm fine" you told him. That was a lie and both of you knew it. You were in fact VERY tired at the moment. Tired from running, tired from chasing away Cassandra, tired from yelling, screaming, crying. Most importantly, you were just plain tired from everything in general really.
"My dear…you need rest" he informed you, tracing gloved fingertips over the lining of your cheek. This caused you to yawn again, making him chuckle. "Trying to hide this fact will get you no where fast sweet Crystal"
"Will you…stop with that 'dear' stuff? It's…making me…sleepy" you said quietly, yawning again. Oh how you hating yawning at this very moment. It was becoming a nuisance and a rather annoying one at that.
"Dear…sweet…Crystal…please go to sleep" he said, a smile creeping onto his face. You groaned.
"I thought I said…to stop…saying…that…" you yawned again, barely finishing your sentence. Jareth just cracked up upon watching you, finding your dismay rather amusing. You gave him a tired glare. "I'm glad that you find my disposition so amusing my dear friend" you said quietly, before another yawn escaped your lips. He whipped a tear from his eye.
"So sorry, I just can't seem to help it" he admitted, watching you yawn again.
"And neither…can…I" He chuckled. "Dang it…why won't this…stop?" you groaned. You couldn't seem to stop yawning and from what you could tell, you were slowly starting to fall asleep. "No…not…right…now" you yawned again, groaning once more.
"Come now, sleep" he said, placing a hand on your forehead. "You're already starting to get sick" he informed you, looking down into your groggy eyes.
"Sick?" you questioned, your brows knitting together. He nodded.
"Yes, sick. That's exactly what I said" You just groaned again.
"Great…that's the last thing that I need right now" you yawned again, trying to stay standing, but failing horribly. Soon, you found yourself falling forward, only to have Jareth catch you in the warmth of his arms.
"Careful now" he said, sitting down with you on the firm and solid ground. You yawned yet again, feeling slightly dizzy.
"Great…now I can't even see straight" you whispered, but he still heard you. He looked down at you with mild interest.
"Dizzy?" he asked curiously, looking at you. He placed his hand back on your forehead for a moment.
"What…are you…doing?" you whispered, trying to keep your eyes open at this point, but failing miserably.
"Why, I am checking your temperature my dear, and you seem to have a fever" Jareth said, gazing down at you with slight worry. "Is there anywhere in which I can take you my dear?" he asked looking down at you. You nodded slowly.
"Hank's…do you…remember…how to…get…there?" you asked, continuing to yawn, fighting to stay awake.
"Yes, I do believe so. Not too far from here, am I right?" he asked, allowing you to give a faint nod. Slowly, he knelt down a bit, before picking you up in his arms. "You're rather light, did you know that?" you didn't answer, just continued to fight a pointless battle for consciousness.
"You're…not going to…leave…are you?" you asked quietly, eyelids darting open and closed, furiously trying to stay open now. He let out a faint chuckle, before shaking his head.
"No, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I've stayed by your side this long haven't I?" he asked, a small grin on his face. You nodded slowly, burying your face into the folds of his strange attire, closing your eyes as well.
"Mmmhmhmm…" you mumbled into his clothing.
"What was that?" he asked, looking down at you curiously. You pulled your head away slightly.
"I said…yes…you have…" you said quietly, yawning, before burying your face back into the cloth of his chest. Your eyes then closed, one final time, unable to open again.
"Well my dear, I suppose that we should be off then" he said, quietly crouching down to pick your crystal up in one hand, you in the other. He smiled lightly, before pressing the crystal into your small clamped hand, watching as your fingers wrapped around the small sphere. "I can't understand why I never made my presence known before" Jareth said quietly, looking down at you. "I'm sure that we could have had quite a bit of fun if I had sooner, maybe a few years ago?" he asked, no one in particular. "But no, we'll still have plenty of fun ahead of us, won't we my dear?" he asked, looking down at you this time, before toss you up in his arms a bit to get a better grip on you. He smiled a bit, before walking off, keeping to the shadows of the park.
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Ok, chapter 3 is FINALLY up. Sorry for taking so long, I had had a bit of writer block. Please REVIEW? I need reviews for this story and possibly some ideas too. :) thanks for reading.