"Keep the Magic Alive"
Chapter 12
By Aiijuin
Disclaimer: All things "Labyrinth" belong to Henson Companies as well as many other wonderful contributors. I own nothing!
This story is VERY dark, and therefore is marked: M+ for Mature content
Chapter 12: Custody Battle
Jareth had checked himself into the Ancorra Psychiatric Facility the next morning as Sarah had asked him to. He loved her too much to place her through anymore pain. However, Jareth's problems and supposed hallucinations didn't go away, no matter how strong they made his medications. For the next month and a half, random little monsters, Sir Diddymus, and Ludo the walking carpet, disturbed his sleep.
He wasn't the only one having those delusions either. Most of the other patients in the hospital also saw what he was seeing. One patient patted Jareth on the shoulder and reassured, "Yup! Those little monsters were really hiding under the bed, swinging from the track lights, and singing cute little songs."
Jareth promptly turned to the man with an annoyed look upon his face and muttered, "Oh, and why should I believe a chap who thinks that he sees Vincent Price riding atop a goldfish in his cereal bowl every morning at breakfast?"
He figured, since he was in the schizophrenic wing of the hospital, that he had probably entertained the other patients unawares and they started hallucinating the same things that he had. However, the psychiatrists said that Jareth was well behaved and caused nobody any problems.
One rainy evening, Jareth was staring out of his window and thinking about Sarah. He was worried about her and his children as well. He wondered if Sahara's mental state had improved at all since he had left, and if Jaime had forgiven him for dumping him down the well. He also wondered how his twins were doing in school, and if they had met any new boys to squeal about. Jareth smiled as he thought of the first time Jennifer had brought home a boyfriend. The guy had an earring in his ear, and Jareth kept laughing at it, which made Jennifer yell at him right in front of her guest.
One of the nurses tapped on Jareth's room door and said, "Mr. King, you have a visitor."
Jareth followed the nurse as he wondered who would venture out on a night like this. As he walked into the visitation room, he saw her…
Sarah…
His face lit up as he walked towards her. She had been crying again. He could tell, because her eyes always got puffy and red for hours after she did. He shook his head. It was perfectly understandable, since she was going through a lot right now, and he believed that he was the root of her problems.
The nurse began to walk out of the room and explained, "We're monitoring the room with cameras, Mrs. King, so if you have any problems just shout or wave. We'll be watching."
"Thank you," Sarah replied softly as Jareth took a seat on the opposite side of a long table directly in front of her.
Sarah took a deep breath in, but paused. Jareth didn't say anything. Finally, after she had composed herself, she asked, "Jareth? You've been in this place the whole time, right? You haven't been left out for any reason at all, have you?"
"No, Sarah," He replied straightforwardly. "I couldn't even escape from here if I tried without being medically released by at least three doctors' signatures first. They have a ten-foot fence, with a barbed-wire link around the top, and at least three cameras monitoring every room, including the showers and bathrooms. Then, there are at least five security guards and twelve nurses walking the floors at all times. It's like one big gigantic maze with all of the twists and turns in this place, but simply put, I'd honestly need magic to escape from here."
After another deep pause between the two of them, Jareth added, "Why? Is something wrong, Darling?"
Sarah sniffled, "I hardly know anymore…."
Jareth wanted to embrace her, but refrained from doing so. He was afraid of hurting her. She continued, "There was a major power outage in the entire neighborhood yesterday. At first, I thought it was a fuse again, so I walked down to the basement with a flashlight… and there were snakes."
"You saw a snake in the basement?" Jareth asked, and then added, "Although... it has been raining an awful lot lately, and the creature probably slithered in through a hole in order to get dry."
"No, Jareth," Sarah blinked as she looked down at the table. "The entire basement was covered from ceiling to floor with living, slithering, black snakes."
"My god," He blinked in disbelief. "Did- did you call the exterminator?"
Sarah sighed, "No! I screamed, threw the flashlight at them, and then ran out the front door. Then, I was attacked by a low-flying owl. The damned thing chased me almost down to the convenience store on the corner… and I would have run all of the way there, but I tripped and fell in the ditch on the side of the street and nearly drowned thanks to all of the flooding."
Jareth asked, "Are you okay? Why would an owl attack a human? I thought that they only hunted and chased mice and other small rodents."
Sarah began to cry as she continued, "I came back to the house covered in mud and completely drenched from the pouring rain… but…"
She had stopped to take a deep breath in, and then finished, "The children were gone when I stepped back inside."
Jareth shifted nervously, "Did-Did they run to the neighbor's house? Do you think they left because they saw the snakes too? Sarah? You found them…Oh, please tell me that you found them again!"
Sarah shook her head and broke down, "No. But this was hanging on the door with a ball-knobbed staff rammed into it, which pierced right through to the other side of the door."
Sarah handed Jareth a crumpled piece of parchment, which contained a message that looked like it had been written in red-blood. He unfolded it as she tucked her hands tightly around herself and shivered.
He read outloud, "Dear Miss Williams,"
He took a breath and continued, "It was such a pity that you had run off with hardly a word or even a hearty goodbye, which would have been the proper thing to do upon leaving somebody's home unexpectedly. As you well know, what's said is said and I cannot allow certain violations within my kingdom to go unpunished any longer. It with deep regret that I must inform you that thirteen hours have expired from an illicit wish that your careless daughter, Sahara had uttered some time ago."
Jareth continued, "She was given full disclosure of the more than generous time allotment in which to solve my Labyrinth, but she failed to do so, and therefore I have come to collect on my payment as promised. While I have pondered long and hard on how I should handle this matter, I have decided to make a fair trade that will suit your greatest desires. If you would surrender yourself willingly over to me, then I will happily release your children from my castle beyond the Goblin City and return them to your brother Toby for future parental care."
Jareth King paused for a moment in shock before he finished, "If, however, you do not comply with these terms, then I'm afraid I will be forced to take extreme measures and place your daughter's debts down upon all of your children. I promise that you will neither see nor hear from them again. Dearest Sarah, I know that we are all reasonable people, so I look forward to hearing from you very soon. Kindest regards, Jareth, the Goblin King."
Jareth King trailed off at the very end and began to tremble, "Sarah… I-I… I haven't left this place, I swear. You can check the logs. I haven't even written or called anyone, because I haven't earned those privileges yet. Everything, and I mean, everything is monitored in here."
Sarah just had her head buried in her hands. She was utterly traumatized. Jareth's head was killing him, as a sudden migraine had just begun. Sarah looked up at him after a few minutes and whispered, "I'm here. I surrender."
"Darling," Jareth started, "I didn't write that. I didn't take our children. Did you call the police?"
Sarah slammed her hands down onto the table and screamed, "YES! I'VE CALLED EVERYBODY! The only thing that the police found at the crime scene was a bunch of glitter and owl's feathers! The neighbors all think that I did it! None of them will even talk to me. Nobody will help me! You've won, Jareth! I'm absolutely trapped and you have me exactly where you want me! I surrender!"
Two male nurses ran into the room and immediately surrounded Jareth. They shouted, "Mrs. King? Are you okay, Ma'am? Do you want us to call a medic for you? Did he hurt you, Ma'am?"
At that second, the lights went out in the visitation room, and everything became deadly silent.
Security scurried into the room seconds later carrying flashlights as they searched the area. The two nurses had been rendered unconscious, Jareth King was standing in the darkness, and ….
"Sarah?" Jareth called. "Sarah, where are you?"
No response.
The guards tethered Jareth as he became frantic, "No! You don't understand! My wife is gone. What happened to her!? SARAH!?"