NOTE: Here you go, Sarah-fans!
Aaron landed on the top of one of the labyrinth walls. It ached to fly, but it wasn't terrible. He wasn't at all surprised to find a white owl circling before joining him on the wall. As soon as the white owl landed, it transformed into Jareth.
"Change back. I have some things for you to keep on your person" Jareth said. He pulled out a child's bracelet and a photograph. Aaron hesitated before changing. They sat there, on the top of the wall like two little boys. "This is my only photograph of her." Jareth handed the photo to Aaron, along with the bracelet. "When you meet her, give her the bracelet and tell her that Hoggle says hello. She will believe you."
"How do you want us to get back?" Aaron asked. Jareth handed him a small crystal ball, about half the size of his preferred crystals.
"Just tell it to take you to my throne room" Jareth instructed. "It will form a door for you both to use." Aaron tucked the crystal ball, the photo, and the bracelet into his trouser pocket. He transformed into an owl and remained perched beside his brother. "Let no harm befall Sarah, Aaron."
Aaron took flight, heading for aboveground, New Hampshire, Dartmouth.
It was dark aboveground and it took nearly no time to find New Hampshire. Aaron stopped in a small town. He just had to figure out where exactly Dartmouth was. Over the last few years of watching people in this realm, he had learned that there were ways of getting information. None were as easy as finding an advert for Dartmouth near a covered bus stop that featured a small map on how to "Visit Campus!"
Tess wandered around the labyrinth and was thrilled when she came across trees. She had been certain that she was going in circles. The shift in the ground, from fairly steady ground to severely uneven ground, made the trees seemed even wilder. They appeared to be covered in some kind of glittery substance, but after looking at one of the weird trees Tess found that it was just an effect of the bark.
Tess sat on a large protruding root that perched over a deep ditch. The canopy of leaves and branches made the woods a dark place. She had been walking around for a few hours now. Her feet were a little sore and she really wanted some cold water.
"Penny for your thoughts" Tess heard from behind her. She didn't turn around and she was glad that she hadn't jumped at his voice. Instead, she waited for him to lean against a nearby tree.
"What do you want?" Tess asked. She looked up at the blonde king.
"I was going to walk with you while we both wait on Aaron" Jareth replied. They both remained silent until the silence grew awkward to Tess. She stood up and found her way through the trees, Jareth easily following her.
"Who is he trying to find?" Tess asked. Tess found a mossy footpath and followed it.
"Just a girl" Jareth replied dryly. Tess spared a glance behind her and saw his jaw set firmly in place.
"Don't bullshit me, Jareth" Tess said. She ran into a low branch and swatted it out of her face. "I know how these things work. Who is she?"
"Here, they call her 'The Champion', but her name is Sarah" Jareth replied. Tess led them around some rocks that jutted up from the ground and around some trees until she came to a fork in the road. A post held three hands. One pointed to the right, another to the left, and one pointed the way she had just come.
"'The Champion'?" Tess asked. Jareth shrugged and kept quiet. "She turned your world around, didn't she?"
"She's just a girl from aboveground" Jareth replied. He pointed at the sign. "Which way are we going?"
"Right" Tess said. They took the path which gave way to a wider path. "Observing people is one of my things, as a writer." She paused and Jareth said nothing. She stopped walking and looked at Jareth. Just from his body language, she was sure she knew the silent story. "Nevermind. I think I know."
"You know nothing" Jareth said dismissively. Tess rolled her eyes and continued down the path. They walked quietly, enjoying the scenery. The trail wound like a snake through the trees and they soon found themselves in the middle of a dirt clearing with paths radiating from it like sun rays.
"More choices" Tess stated. Jareth watched as she went to the head of each path entrance and looked down what she could see. "Is there a chance of our original agreement still being in effect? I mean, is it actually still in effect? Does Aaron's agreement override our agreement?"
"Yes" Jareth replied. Tess smiled briefly, until she realized that she wasn't sure what the 'yes' was for.
"Yes to which question?" Tess asked.
"All of them" Jareth said. "Our original agreement is still in effect, but you have the added bonus of having the possibility of Aaron winning freedom for both of you."
"Great" Tess said. She took the fifth path.
"Why are you taking this path?" Jareth asked. "There were two others that looked better groomed."
"This path seemed less spidery" Tess replied. Jareth had to nod at that. The other paths had featured trees with somewebbing.
"We have some large spide—" Jareth said.
"NO!" Tess snapped. "No. Please. I do not want to know."
Jareth laughed and said no more on the subject of spiders. Instead, they walked until they hit a dead end. There was a sheer cliff at the end of the trail. Tess looked up and sighed. She was getting tired and this was a setback. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. She wanted to write and hated the fact that she had been so long without a journal or loose paper or even a napkin and a writing utensil.
"Perfect" Tess said. She looked around, hoping for a small trail or a cave or a door or something, but nothing was around except dense forest.
"Come along" Jareth said stepping back to the path. "This gives us time to talk about you."
Aaron found Hanover and the very prominent campus of Dartmouth. Somewhere in the town, a public clock chimed six times. People were moving about, walking, riding bikes, driving cars, balancing on skateboards. Aaron observed the people and moved around the town.
In an abrupt change of plan, Aaron shifted back into a man. He emerged from between two buildings and stepped into a quaint café. He was surprised to see that the place was busy. There was a man on the small stage with an acoustic guitar. Aaron did not care for the folky music that was being played. The other people in the café were either reading, on their computers, having private conversations, or were watching the guitar player.
Aaron went up to the cashier and pulled out the photo of Sarah. "Excuse me; I'm looking for this woman. Her name is Sarah."
"Is that Sarah Williams?" The cashier asked. The woman looked young and was pretty in a normal sort of way. She looked over to one of the baristas. "Luke, is this Sarah?"
The barista hurried over. His head was half shaved, the rest styled into a modern quaff. He was overly thin and sported thick black glasses. He looked at the photo and laughed.
"Is this for real?" Luke asked. "This is an old photo of her." Luke looked Aaron over and smiled. "Is she working on a play? Is someone doing 'Last of the Mohicans'?"
"No. I'm just looking for her" Aaron said.
"She usually comes in by seven" The cashier said. The girl smiled at him. "What play are you in?"
"I'm not in any play" Aaron said. "I'm seeking this woman on behalf of my brother."
"That sounds a little…weird" The cashier replied. She pointed to an empty table. "You can place an order and take a seat."
"Yes, certainly" Aaron replied. He reached into his pockets and wished for his belt. He wasn't in the habit of keeping money from aboveground and he didn't have any on him. "I seem to be without any money. Would you mind if I just waited for Sarah to show up?"
"Just take a seat" The cashier said with a dismissive sigh. Aaron thanked her and went to take a seat in a corner of the café where he could watch the door. He praised whatever force had granted him luck with finding Sarah in a true college town.
Aaron glanced at the clock. He had been waiting for nearly 34 minutes now. The person on the stage had switched a few times now. A duo was on the stage doing some kind of performance art in black and white spandex suits. Aaron was trying hard not to listen to the loud table off to his right. A few women were having a laugh while talking about relationships and shopping and whatever a facebook was.
It was 6:53 when Sarah came into the café. She was in a ménage of black and grey, and sported a red coat. She was lovely. He had to give his brother credit when it came to finding beautiful people and things. He watched as she ordered and was pointed out by the cashier. Sarah looked at him curiously. Aaron stood up, trying to be polite. Sarah waited a moment for her coffee before making her way over to him.
"Do I know you?" Sarah asked. Aaron sat as soon as soon as Sarah took a seat.
"No" Aaron replied. Aaron reached into his pocket and pulled out the bracelet. "You know my brother. He asked me to give you this." Sarah reached for the bracelet, not recognizing it until she picked it up and really looked at it. "He wanted me to tell you that Hoggle says hello."
"Hoggle?" Sarah said shocked. She looked around and leaned forward in order to whisper. She clutched the bracelet tight in her hand. "How did you get this? Is Hoggle okay? Who are you?"
"I am Jareth's brother" Aaron replied. "My name is Aaron. I've been sent here to bring you back to the labyrinth."
"I am not amused" Sarah announced. She got up and hurried out of the café with Aaron trying to keep up with her. The New Hampshire night had become breezy. Sarah had no issues since she had her red coat, but Aaron found it frigid as it cut through his shirt and embraced his skin.
"Wait!" Aaron called out. He was sore from his flight and he was sore from sitting on a hard chair. He stopped and braced his aching body against a light post. "Let me explain, Sarah."
Sarah glanced back at him. He looked to be in pain. "What's the matter with you?"
"Jareth has my friend, Tess" Aaron told her. Sarah noticed a few spots of red on his shirt. They weren't large blood spots, but they were there, each roughly the size of a quarter.
"You're bleeding" Sarah told him. Aaron looked down at his shirt and nodded.
"I am, yes" Aaron said. "It happens when you spend a few hours in the dungeon."
"Can you walk if we go slow?" Sarah asked. Aaron nodded and followed her down the street to the green off of main. "Start from the beginning."
Aaron gave her the abridged version of events that led him to find her. Sarah had been quiet and politely nodded as he told her what had happened. It took at five laps around the green. They stopped at a bench that was secured under a street light. Aaron leaned against the pole and Sarah sat down.
"I have classes, Aaron" Sarah told him. "I can't just go to the labyrinth with you."
"Jareth never said that you had to stay" Aaron told her. "He just wants you to come back to the labyrinth." Sarah's dark hair blew across her face and she pushed it behind an ear. "You would be helping me and Tess greatly."
"For a long time I wasn't sure if the labyrinth was real" Sarah told him. "I eventually told myself that it had been a dream. A very vivid, a very real dream." Her chocolate eyes met his golden hazel eyes. "You're telling me that everything is real?"
"Yes" Aaron said.
"I just have to go with you and everything will magically be okay?" Sarah questioned. Aaron made a vague gesture.
"Look, let me show you" Aaron said. He moved across the walkway, across the green space, to a cluster of trees. Sarah followed him, keeping a little space between her and this strange man. Aaron pulled out the small crystal and whispered to it. He threw it at the tree. Instead of shattering, it caught in the lower branches and slowly formed a door.
"It's a door" Sarah said with a startled, yet delighted tone. She took a few steps over to it and reached out. It felt like a solid oak door. It felt real. Sarah frowned and thought about the decision that faced her. She opened the door and stared at the Goblin King's throne room. "That's the throne room."
"Yes" Aaron said.
"I don't have to run the labyrinth?" Sarah asked.
"Do you want to?" Aaron asked rhetorically. Reluctantly, Sarah stepped through the door with Aaron right behind her.
Tess and Jareth had taken a new path, chosen at random, and Jareth had begun his light interrogation of Tess. Most of the questions were about her work as a writer and her schooling, but now he was getting more personal.
"How can a writer not believe in 'true love'?" Jareth guffawed. He had picked up a stick and was fiddling around with it. "All artists believe in 'true love'."
"I didn't say that I don't believe in it" Tess replied. "I just said that I don't think I'm meant for it. Besides, it's not your concern."
"You're a terrible liar" Jareth replied. "You can hear it in your voice. You want it, but you are scared of it. There are so many like you."
"I'm fine being by myself" Tess insisted. The path rounded some wide trees. "I don't think people put a lot of stock into living alone, but I really don't have a need….for…Jareth?" His footsteps had stopped. When she turned to look at him, he was not there. "Jareth?" She looked around, looking for an animal or anything that might have taken him. "Well…damn."
Jareth apparated into his throne room which meant one thing…Jareth looked around and found his brother standing next to a grown Sarah Williams. She stood there in black trousers, a grey shirt, and a red coat that made her skin look like porcelain. She shifted the bag slung over her shoulder.
"Sarah" Jareth said. He swallowed and remembered himself. He bowed. "Welcome back."
"Where's Hoggle?" Sarah asked. She pulled out the bracelet from her pocket and held it up. "Is he in trouble?"
"He's perfectly fine" Jareth replied. He stepped forward and held his hand out for the bracelet. "He will be wanting this back."
"I thought, for the longest time" Sarah said. "That this was all, I don't know, a dream or something."
"Jareth, where is Tess?" Aaron asked. Jareth produced a crystal.
"Go complete the labyrinth with her" Jareth said. He pushed the crystal against Aaron's chest, making Aaron fade away. "Sarah and I need to talk."
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