NOTE: Yes, Sarah is in this story. Would anyone be up for doing any fan art? I'd like to see how you guys interpret Aaron and Jareth.
Jareth stood near Sarah, staring. It wasn't intentional; he just hadn't imagined that she would ever come back. Sarah twitched and chewed on her bottom lip nervously. Her bag creaked a little in the quiet throne room. Her gaze fell to the floor, the horned throne, the windows, and everywhere but Jareth.
Sarah let out a breath and kept her eyes averted from Jareth. "It looks like nothing has changed in here."
"It's been nearly eight years for you" Jareth said. "Time does pass differently here."
"I can't stay long" Sarah said bluntly. Her mouth tightened and she finally looked at Jareth. "I have classes come Monday and work to do for them."
"Yes, classes at Darting Mouth" Jareth said. He held out a hand. "You can leave your bag here. It won't go anywhere."
"It's Dartmouth" Sarah replied. She took a deep breath and reluctantly handed over her bag. Jareth gently set it on his throne. "What do you need from me? I completed the labyrinth and won Toby back, so you can't claim him or anything."
"No, nothing about dear Toby" Jareth said. He smiled. The air was thick with nervous tension. Jareth felt his jaw clench tight, despite his smile. "Let's go find old Hoghead."
"It's Hoggle" Sarah replied. She gave a compliant nod and Jareth led her out of the throne room.
As soon as Aaron took solid form in the labyrinth, Tess collided with him hard enough for both of them to fall. Tess moved quickly, frantically, until she was standing again. She picked up the stick she had been carrying and stood defensively.
"Get up!" Tess yelled to Aaron. "Get up! Go! Get up!"
"What?" Aaron grumbled. He shivered, adjusting to the warmth of the labyrinth, and rolled onto his side so he could push his sore body up. "What's going on?"
"Run" Tess whispered. She was listening for something. The birds and forest animals had gone quiet. Tess let out a moan of disgust before turning and running down the dirt path. Aaron didn't see anything, but followed her.
Tess was filthy and her face was pink. She kept running and barely looked over her shoulder. When she did, she fell, skidding to a stop. The few rocks that were embedded into her bleeding palm didn't even register. Aaron felt his muscles protest in running, but nonetheless he hurried over to Tess to help her up.
"They're coming!" Tess shrieked. She was looking behind them and pointed with her bloody hand. The other was firmly gripping her stick. Aaron looked and saw large spiders making their way through the trees and along the path. Terror was present in Tess's eyes. She was up and running, the scent of fear trailing behind her, like a strong perfume.
"Nuada's Hand!" Aaron breathed. He hurried to catch up with the terrified petite woman. He transformed into his owl form and breezed past Tess. He flapped upwards. As soon as he could see the castle, he knew where they were. He glided back down and transformed again. "Come with me!"
Aaron grabbed Tess's arm and pulled her into the woods, to the right. It seemed as if they would get stuck in the underbrush, but Aaron pushed on. The trees abruptly stopped and they stood in the entrance of a stone section of the labyrinth. Aaron didn't stop, simply pulled her along at a tired run.
Sarah felt nearly blinded when Jareth pushed open a door that led outside. Time was indeed different in the underground. Jareth gently took her hand and placed it on his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. They were standing on a stone patio that overlooked a private garden. The air had a slight breeze with the scent of peach. It was more than Sarah remembered.
"He should be around here somewhere" Jareth said softly. At the far end of the patio a few weeds were chucked into a garden cart. "Hoggle!"
"I'm busy!" A gruff voice called out. Jareth and Sarah headed for the end of the patio. They looked over the railing and found the dwarf half buried in the flowers, removing the weeds.
"Hoggle!" Sarah said with a big smile. Hoggle stopped and stood up.
"Sarah?" Hoggle asked. "Is that you? You look older."
"You're bracelet" Jareth said tossing the trinket to the dwarf. Hoggle caught it and slipped it on his hand.
"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked. Her long brown hair framed her smiling face.
"Just doing my job" Hoggle said with a shrug.
"Without Hogsmead the whole labyrinth would be in ruins" Jareth said. Jareth gave a slight pull on Sarah's arm. "We'll let you get back to work. You can visit later."
"Yeah, yeah" Hoggle replied. A tiny fairy fluttered past him and he smacked it out of the air. "You let these damn flower fairies in here and they're breeding like frickin' rabbits!"
Jareth laughed and Sarah looked confused. "You're doing a fine job. Keep it up and find us when you're done."
"For her" Hoggle said.
"See you later, Hoggle" Sarah called as Jareth led her back to the door they had come out of. Hoggle waved before diving back into his work. "What…? Are you two friends now?"
"We always have been friends" Jareth replied. He held the door for her and they went back into the castle.
"You weren't very friendly to him when I was here last time" Sarah replied. The door closed with a heavy thud.
Jareth leaned in a little. "You never bothered to ask. Just ran around as if you were the great heroine in a fairytale with me cast as the villain."
"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked. She shook her head and pulled her hand away from him. "This is the weirdest dream."
"Oh, I assure you this is not a dream" Jareth said. Sarah had stopped in the corridor and looked at a large hanging tapestry. It had gruesome little characters battling each other amid a field and a forest.
"This is definitely a dream" Sarah whispered. Jareth smiled and stood hip to hip with her. "I've been too stressed with finishing up my masters degree, so my brain is making me think of you and this place."
"Do you often think of me and this place when you feel stressed?" Jareth asked looking at her. Sarah shook her head 'no'. She was still looking at the tapestry. Metallic thread had been woven into it in place of fairies and magic. She reached out to touch a metallic spot when she felt a gloved hand at her jaw, another on her waist. When her fingers brushed the tapestry, Jareth pressed his lips to hers. This had never happened in any of her dreams.
She could feel his lips against hers and the lamb-soft leather of Jareth's gloved hand gently holding her. There was an urgent need behind his lips and Sarah felt herself give in, kissing him back. She enjoyed herself for a blink of an eye before her mind nagged at her.
This was the Goblin King, a nemesis from a single night, he was a magic man. Sarah's brow furrowed. She let out a muffled groan. Sarah pushed at Jareth until he stepped back. His eyes sparkled with a hungry lust. Sarah's eyes were wide like a deer and her face flushed.
"Don't do that" Sarah whispered back. She stepped backward, putting a little more distance between them. Jareth gracefully smoothed out his waistcoat and gave her a bow of his head. "I need to go."
"Sarah" Jareth began. She turned and headed for the throne room.
Despite the heavy breathing, the pumping blood resonating through their ears, and their feet hitting the ground at a run, Aaron and Tess could hear the tick, tick, tick of crawling spiders over the stone walls. Aaron was still pulling Tess through twitten after twitten until he found what he was looking for.
He stopped and Tess skidded to a stop beside him.
"What is it?" Tess asked. The tick, tick, tick of spidery legs was getting closer. Her stomach flopped and she felt a little ill.
"Drop the stick" Aaron said. He grabbed for it and Tess held tight.
"That's my battle stick!" Tess said hysterically. Aaron ripped the stick from her hand and let it fall to the ground. "Aaron!"
"See that darker stone?" Aaron asked pointing to a large square paving stone in front of them. It was darker than the other stones, but if you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't even notice. "Jump!"
They jumped and they fell. Tess screamed.
The fall was enough to feel uneasy, but it ended when hands slowed their fall and eventually grabbed hold of them. Aaron wasted no time.
"Put the cover back up!" Aaron said. "Spiders followed us."
"Spiders?" A face formed from the hands. "Vile things."
"Help us please" Aaron said. Tess was wide-eyed.
"Why certainly" Another face said. "Which way?"
"Down please" Aaron said. He glanced up and saw hands working together to put up a grate. A single spider, the body being the size of a medium dog, managed to get in. "Hurry!"
"Down!" Various faces made of hands formed in order to confirm the direction. Tess shrieked when she looked up and noticed the spider.
"Don't worry miss" One face near her said. The face dissolved and a hand pointed up. Tess looked up and saw the hands grab hold of the spider, ripping it apart. She fell after that.
Tess didn't remember landing. She awoke on the hard floor in a dark room with Aaron partially draped across her. They had been dumped in a heap. Tess pushed and twisted herself into a sitting position. Her left hand stung and she looked at it. The little light from overhead was enough for her to see that it was covered in dried blood and a fresh blood was pooling around the slice in her palm.
"I'm bleeding?" Tess asked the darkness. She poked Aaron and shook his shoulder. "Aaron? Aaron, wake up."
Aaron was breathing, but he seemed to be passed out over Tess's lower half. Tess looked at her palm. The light was good enough that she could see a few rocks in her hand, in the bleeding cut. Tess groaned and tried to clear the wound. Her hand felt as if it was swollen to the size of her head. The tender flesh protested as she pulled out the two of the larger gravel pieces. New blood swelled and she tried to be quick with the last little rock. She stopped when she heard the light sound of it hitting the floor.
"Aaron!" Tess said shaking his shoulder again. Her injured hand was cradled against her chest. This time he stirred. He groaned when he realized how sore he was. He pushed himself off of Tess's legs and onto the cold floor to lie on his back. Tess tucked her legs under her and moved to lean forward, over her tanned savior. "Are you okay?"
"I think I have some bruised ribs" Aaron winced. He rubbed at his face with one hand and then looked at Tess. Her cardigan was torn at the shoulder, she had a smudge of dirt across her nose, and her hair was a mess. "Are you alright?"
"Actually, I seem to be bleeding" Tess said. Aaron sat up and took her hand. In her palm was a pool of blood. Her fingers and her hand were already stained with dried blood.
"Fie!" Aaron said. He quickly tugged at the bottom of his shirt until he tore a strip off. He wadded up the fabric and pressed it to Tess's hand. "What did you do to yourself woman?"
"I don't know" Tess replied. She groaned at the pressure he was applying to her hand. "Aaron?" He looked at her. "I really want to go home so I can take a hot bath."
"We will get out of here" Aaron replied with a smile. He wiped at the dirt across her nose. "You certainly need one."
His hand lingered at her face, tracing her jaw and her lips. Tess swallowed when she felt his thumb leave her bottom lip. In the dim light his eyes were strangely luminescent. Tess cocked her head to the side, ever so slightly, and looked at them.
"Your eyes" Tess whispered.
"I can see perfectly" Aaron whispered back. They were inches away. Aaron's hand guided her forward until their lips met. Tess's good hand found its way to Aaron's shoulder. He deepened the kiss and elicited a moan from his own mouth. Tess leaned into the kiss, eager for the affection.
Aaron was pleased when she shifted and straddled his lap. He dropped his hands to her waist, pulling her against him. Tess let out a small cry of pain and pulled away from him.
"Sorry" Tess said. "My hand."
"We need to get out of here" Aaron whispered. He kissed her cheek and moved her from his lap. "Let me see if I can find a way out."
Aaron disappeared into the darkness. Tess could hear him moving around, looking for something.