A/U: Hay here's chapter 1 or 2 whatever you consider the following of a prologue to be; hope you all like it! Please r&r
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…. (Echoes many times) see nothing
Throughout her trek through the forest, Sarah felt as if she were being watched and followed; she could imagine him stalking her on silent wings, just waiting for the chance to rake razor sharp talons down her back and across her throat. Despite her earlier ideas that he would never really try to hurt her, she was beginning to have her doubts. "He had a hundred different chances during my Labyrinth challenge…if he wanted me gone he would have done it then…of coerce then he was trying to seduce me into staying…now he has not only means but motive as well…" Her thoughts swam much like ripples in a lake, finding one answer then bouncing off that and going to an alternative, complete with scenario. It lasted for the remainder of her journey.
Sarah reached her apartment and sighed with relief, she may love walking in the dark but seeing him, after being so sure she was finally rid of him, was just too much…she wanted to be safe at home. Several weeks after her Labyrinth challenge, Sarah had started to see owls on a regular basis and as the sightings grew more frequent she noticed that the owl was always in the same places and always had the same markings. She had tried to convince herself that the bird had just nested somewhere in the area but after several months of constant observation, on both parts, and mid day sightings of a snowy white barn owl, Sarah had pieced together the events and figured out her old nemesis was anything but out of her life, she stopped trying to pass it off as coincidence. She smiled. The look he had given her, even in his less than expressive owl eyes, when she had confronted him using his name, had been priceless. A combination of shock, anger, there was a little bit of…what was that? Pride? And many other emotions she could not decipher. After the next occurrence though she had wished she had just ignored him. He had turned back into the, surprisingly hansom, Goblin King and had attacked her full force, but not in the way she had imagined he would. He had bantered with her supposed feelings for him and somewhat reveled his wishes for her to have remained with him in the Labyrinth. (It was the first and last time she had seen him in his Fae form thus far) and after exchanging cruel banter back and forth for some fifteen minutes, he had given her a brutal back hand that had left half her face bruised and a tooth chipped. She had always thought he was just a bunch of talk and hot air…she had never thought him capable of doing her harm until that point, two years ago.
She shuddered at the memory and the unearthly look he had given her after his violent action, it was hard and cold, completely deprived of any remorse whatsoever, completely deprived of any emotion what so ever. Just cold and calculating. He had stared down at her for what seemed like an eternity all the while she feared that he would ether take her back to the Labyrinth by force or just kill her. Quite suddenly the look in his eyes had changed to one of a softer and gentler nature, visibly forcing another glair, he had turned and strode off into the surrounding trees, and moments later she saw an owl flying into the sunset, back to its dark and twisted home. She never had figured out what had caused his sudden change in demeanor and his equally sudden retreat.
Now bearing the strain of old and confusing memories and the occurrences of the night, Sarah was anything but relaxed. Deciding that a cup of tea would help to calm her nerves, she headed for the kitchen, all the while thinking of what she could do, given her new obstacle. She would still walk home at night, it was the only time she felt free and calm, she would never let him take that away, still she could never truly be calm if she knew he was there, watching and waiting for her. Him showing up was like another challenge and she refused absolutely refused to let him have the satisfaction of knowing he had scared her…she would walk home alright if for nothing more than just to spite him and make him seem the fool. And yet…her need to provoke and anger him made her seem like the fool when she stopped to think about it…just what would he do should she drive him over the edge?
Eleven chimes of her grandfather clock brought her back from some disturbing thoughts of what might befall her should he catch her again. In that time she had downed several glasses of hot tea and was more than ready to go to bed, to escape into the world of unknowing and relaxation. Leaving the glass and tea pot for the next day, yawning, she headed for her room and overstuffed bed, oblivious to the fact that she was being watched. She entered her room and undressed, pulling on some pajama pants and an oversized T-shirt. She clicked off her bedside light and flopped into the soft folds of her comforter. She was just cuddling under the covers when a cold velvety voice penetrated from the shadows of her, next to empty, closet.
"My, my Sarah you have grown up…walking home by yourself at night…very brave or shall I say stupid?" the final word was sharp and held distain, surprisingly, as she shot up on her knees and turned on the light, she felt more hurt than scared. In the blink of an eye the room was illuminated, except for the shadows within her deep walk in closest, still she could make out the ghostly pail figure leaning nonchalantly against the inner door frame. She was reminded of their last encounter in the Labyrinth, when he had emerged from the shadows for their final confrontation…or at least she thought it was going to be.
As he stepped into the light she saw that he had not changed in the least. Where she had grown into her body over the two years it had been since she had last seen his Fae form, he remained entirely untouched by time. Same angular face, mess of platinum hair, dark, tight fitting clothes, the same infinitely deep eyes…wait, they weren't the same, they were older and, as she could see and would later learn, where there had once been arrogance, cruelty, anger, passion…there was now only sorrow. He smirked at her as she stared at him, wobbling on her knees in the middle of her bed. At her silence he began talking again.
"Well Sarah, time seems to have treated you fairly." He commented; eyeing her hungrily and letting his gaze linger on her face and chest. Still no response. He gave an over dramatic gasp. "What? Are you at a loss dear Sarah?" he asked with mock surprise, putting his hands on either side of his face in yet another show of unneeded and overacted dramatics.
"What are you doing here Jareth?" she said coolly so quietly he had to strain to hear. She completely disregarded the incident that happened the last time she had ignored his ranking title and simply addressed him by his name. He scowled at her and flexed his fingers, temper rising, he was in no mood to be disrespected.
"Why were you out so late?" he demanded.
"None of your business." She replied airily, defiantly, eyes flashing. She couldn't believe that after all this time of uncaring, after everything he had done to her, that he would act as a parent and scold her for something so trivial as walking home.
"Tell me." He said dangerously, advancing several steps. Sarah fell back to sit on her heels, wishing she had some means of protection.
"I was walking home." She said simply
"So late at night…did you miss a ride?" Jareth asked with legitimate curiosity.
"No I like walking in the dark and it was only eight." Sarah was beginning to sound like a child.
"It's dangerous to be out so late, when it's so dark... and so far from home? Few people would hear you screaming in time to help you...that is if you even had time to scream." He smiled cruelly at her, his voice was mocking and, in Sarah's opinion, threatening. She refused to let on that he was really beginning to scare her.
"Why do you even care?" she said, glaring.
"Who says I do, I'm just informing you that it's against your better judgment to be out so late." He said simply, sounding board and examining his gloved hand as if it were a hundred times more interesting than the conversation.
"Why thank you Karen." Her voice was overly sweet and no sooner had the words left her mouth did she wish she had just kept quiet. Jareth looked up at her, at first glance merely looking curious, the only sign of his mood being that his eyes had gone nearly black from anger, the rest of his demeanor said he was calm cool and collected as ever. Still staring at her, his face looking very regal, he waved his hand and soon she was standing in front of him, her body moving of its own accord. His eyes were fixed to hers and she saw the absence of emotion that she had seen on their last encounter. She gave him a cool glair and cocked her head as if to say 'I dare you', she was rewarded with a violent and unexpected backhand, she fell to the floor, too taken aback to even let out a cry. No sooner did she hit the floor, Jareth, grabbing her by her shoulders, gracefully hauled her up and slammed her into the wall, leather clad fingers digging into the flesh of her shoulders. She tried desperately not to cry out in pain but she could not conceal the fear in her eyes as she stared at him, expecting something fare worse to come. He sighed with a combination of anger and fatigue, averting his eyes from her.
"Sarah, listen to me." He said, almost sounding…desperate? She didn't have time to figure it out, he continued."There are things that inhabit and travel between our worlds you could never even begin to imagine. If you are frightened by me, if you are hurt by my actions, then pray you never see the creatures I'm speaking of." With that he disappeared in a cloud of burning sparking magic, leaving a very frightened, very sore Sarah in his wake.