Okay Chapter 7!

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-Annie

Change For The Better

Jareth

Chapter 7

Jareth took Andy's hand in his and they silently walked through a new green haze back to the castle. Andy pulled the jacket around her shoulders tighter. Jareth cursed himself for not letting her get dressed first. She was obviously freezing, from her wet hair and the night chill. When they showed up on the front lawn of the castle Jareth pulled her into his side in an attempt to warm her up.

They went in a side door and started down a hall way. Jareth started heading toward her room but she turned the other way toward his room. He still had her clutched to his side when he opened his door. His black hole of a floor was gone and now looked like one giant fluffy cloud. His window bed had new softer pillows that looked the exact same as Andy's.

"Your black hole's gone." She stepped into the room. He wrapped his arm around her waist.

"My room changes with my mood." Jareth mumbled. He hoped she didn't realize the number nine embedded in the cloud. He didn't like that his room had changed to cloud nine. He was really happy, of course, with Andy there, but it didn't seem apropriate at the time.

Jareth pulled her toward his window bed, layed down and pulled her into his lap seeing as two people could not fit side by side on the small bed.

He pulled the fur blanket over them, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"You said we would talk." She whispered.

He sighed.

"Yes, what do you want to talk about?"

She was silent for a long time.

"What do you think I am?" She turned in his arms to look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm supposedly not human, remember? What do you think I am?" She layed her head on his chest and listened to his beating heart.

"I really do not know, You are definatly not goblin, I would sense it, and your too beautiful. You may be Elfen, but if you were you'd be allergic to Fairie Tea, and you chug that stuff all the time. You are not sprite, You aren't tall enough and you eyes would be an unnatural color."

"Since the subject of eyes just came up, what's inhuman about them?" He looked down at her confused. He looked into said eyes and examined them.

"I can see three things, they are two different shades of green one dark one light, Your pupils are not normal human sized they are slightly bigger and...they are far to enchanting to be human."

She sat in silence, he wanted to ask her a question, his brain physically itched for it.

"Ask it. I can tell you want to know something."

"Your Great Uncle, Tobias, is he-?"

"Yes, and he started going insane when he was 23 started having dreams about singing and dancing green creatures, a man with long blonde hair and a room of stairs, you knew him as Toby. He dreamnt of you."

"Damn..." Was all Jareth could murmer. He hated himself. When he had taken the baby he had set the poor thing up for a life of pain.

"He was never right, one of his eyes are dilated more then the other, like yours." Andy sat up so she was looking at Jareth. her knees on either side of his. She glared angerly at him.

"And I will tell you this, He is the one person that actually understood me, not even grandmama understood me like he did," Her eyes narrowed further. "And I will, never forgive you for doing that to him."

Jareth hated seeing her glare at him like that, it hurt. It made his throat choke up with fear of tearing what relationship they had. His eyes wavered. He swallowed the lump in his throat. And yet it seemed to turn him on even more.

He looked up at her with true sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Andromeda, I'm so sorry." He whispered. He liked the baby, he was an okay kid. He never wanted that for him.

Her narrowed eyes, relaxed and she watched him for a moment before falling back into his chest with a frustrated sigh.

"I know you are. I wish I could be mad at you." This made his heart ache even more.

"Why can't you?" He choked out. He didn't look at her and she didn't look at him.

"You are way to charming, and sweet, I just can't be pissed at you very long." She sighed and wrapped her arms around his chest, and he rested his arms around her waist.

After a few minutes of silence Jareth began to wonder.

"...So...your not mad at me?" He whispered into the dark.

She shifted so her face was just above his.

"Just kiss me, so I can sleep."

He happily obeyed and touched his lips gently to hers.

He took that as a no.

Andy

She stood in the center of a large ballroom, people swirled and twirled in time to the grand orchestra on the stage in the corner. A crystal chandiliar hung high in the vaulted ceiling.

She looked down at herself, she wore a dark blue ball gown, it was strapless with white lace at the bodice and around the waist it was beautiful and grand.

But something was obstructing it's beauty, scorched flesh of her arms and legs, Her neck had a large brownish scar in the shape of a hand. Her face was left untouched.

The music started to become clear

A sad trill of lonely notes.

At first it seemed that she had arrived unattended. But that's when she looked in front of her. A man with long blonde hair and mix matched eyes sat kneeled on the ground his hands and knees pressing and scraping the floor.

He had tears streaming down his beautiful face.

Jareth.

She tried to go to him, to stop his tears, to hold him, to sooth him, but she was stuck to her spot by a ring of black fire. From behind her walked to Jareth a man, with red hair in a deep crimson suit. She could not see his face but she cringed away from him as if she knew he was bad news. Jareth looked at her his eyes welled up with another round of tears. He let out a choked sob. The man had a long sword with owls imbedded into the handle. He stood directly infront of Jareth and poised to strike.

Jareth's eyes found her's. They became glassy.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

The red haired man stepped in front of her line of vision, and all she could see was the swipe of the blade and the splash of crimson.

Andy woke up screaming.

Her black hair was matted to her scalp and she was tangled up in a blanket of fur. She sat up stock straight. She began shivering. She curled into a ball and put her head between her knees to keep from hypervantalating.

Someone wrapped there arms around her shoulders and stroked her hair softly trying to calm her.

"Shhh, love, it's me, I'm here, you're okay, shhhh." Jareth rocked her back and forth. Andy had her eyes closed tight.

"J-Jareth?" She whispered when she started to calm down. He hugged her tighter.

"I'm here, calm down, you'll be fine you just had a nightmare." She looked up at him, and sighed. He was perfectly intact, his eyes were wild, and his hair was unruly but he was alive, and intact.

She threw her arms around his neck, almost knocking him over. She was relieved it hadn't been real, it felt so vivid, so material. Her heart ached with relief.

He was still here. He was in his room, with her. He was alive.

She breathed in his scent. He didn't question her just rubbed her back soothingly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She sat back to look at him.

She examined every bit of his beautiful face, his soft skin, so pale in the moonlight, his lusious lips, his straight nose, his angular chin, and his eyes, his eyes that was searching her with worry. His beautiful wonderful eyes, void of any tears.

"I was at a ball, I had burns all over my body, and the song that played, such a sad sweet song, I can't get it out of my head, it was so familiar, like a lullaby. There was a man I couldn't see his face, he felt...wrong. Evil. He carried a sword with white barn owls engraved in the handle and he..." She looked back up at him. He was looking at her with curiousity.

"What did he do?"

She thought about telling him, but she couldn't bring the words to form on her lips.

"...I can't... remember." She sighed. Jareth seemed to be thinking. He stood and walked over to his dresser where he pulled his sword off of.

He looked at it a long time and walked over to her. He handed it to her handle end.

She traced her fingers lightly over barn owls, It was the exact same. She handed it back as if it was fragile.

"I forgot you can turn into a barn owl." She whispered hoarsly stuck in her thoughts.

He didn't answer. He put the sword away and crawled up next to her and pulled her into his arms again.

"It was so horrible." She whispered. He pulled the blanket back over them and turned on his side so they could look out the window at the labyrinth and the stars.

"Andromeda, love, I will never let anything hurt you." He whispered into her hair as he kissed her head.

Andy looked up at the stars, unable to sleep anymore.

Jareth

Jareth woke to the sun coming in through the window. He had a sleeping Andy in his arms, her head was resting in his chest and arm. He loved having her so close. He examined her face, she had large bags under her eyes and a frown set on her sleeping face. Her hand was clenching a fist full of his shirt. Her knuckles were white with the effort.

He frowned at her. Memories from last night floated into his mind. The way he felt when she described his sword. Was the man carrying it him? She was dreaming about him, but not in the way he wished she would. Evil?

He gently unfolded her fingers from his shirt and crawled off the bed. He put the blanket over her up to her chin to keep her as warm as possible. He felt the cloud between his toes turn gray, it had turned into a rain cloud.

He couldn't help but feel sick to his stomache when he thought of her having nightmares about him. He did not want that, not one bit.

He shuffled through the cloud and reached his dresser were he pulled out a pair stir ups and a light blue poetry shirt with a very high collar and tattered cuffs.

He found a pair of boxers and shuffled to his bathroom. He yawned and closed the door. He began stripping his clothes and induldged in her scent, on the shirt she had been clutching to, it smelt soft like the flower she was named after, it was soothing and it made his head spin. He smiled and folded the shirt before stepping into the shower.

It didn't take long for him to wash his hair and body when he got out of the shower he could hear Andy moving around in his room. He pulled on his clothes and left his shirt unbuttoned. The moment he opened the door he was pushed back inside and the door was closed.

Andy stood by the door breathing heavily, she had the fur blanket wrapped around herself, but she was soaked. It was cramped in the small bathroom and this annoyed Jareth.

"Precious, what's wrong?" She pressed her ear to the door and seemed to be listening. She motioned him to the door and he fallowed her example.

He heard voices, muffled but they were there. Someone opened his bedroom door and there was a screech of surprise as they fell through the cloud.

"Get in there and search it, I want anything that looks like it belongs to her!" Andy's eyes widened, she looked up at Jareth whose mouth had become very dry.

This was not good. He felt his heart beat wildly. He heard the clank of armor. Soldiers. They wanted to track Andy. They wanted her. This made Jareth panic.

He grabbed Andy's hand in his and knew she would be very mad with what he was going to do. Footsteps shuffled toward the bathroom door.

"It's locked."

"Well, bust it open."

Jareth noticed Andy's hand was very hot, almost hot to the touch, It stung to hold it. He could see pain etched on her face from it.

He took a deep breath. She looked up at him.

"No, Jareth! Don't-!" But it was too late they had all ready gone.

The moment Jareth and Andy ended up in the woods Andy pulled away from him. She dropped the blanket to the ground and rushed to the nearest tree.

She began vomiting up last night's dinner.

Jareth hurried over to her and held up her hair and rubbed small circles in her back soothingly.

"I'm so sorry, love, I paniked, damn..." He mumbled as she went into another round. "I couldn't let them find you, I'm so sorry,"

Andy stumbled away from the tree when she was done and leaned tiredly against the neighboring tree. She wiped her face.

He sat down next to her.

He pushed a stray lock of hair behind her peirced ear.

"Are you all right?" He whispered, he placed a gentle kiss to her temple. She breathed slowly and looked at him. Something was wrong with her eyes they were rimmed red.

"I don't know...my hand...it...it hurts." She placed her hand in her lap to look at it. Jareth sucked in a breath. The Kiss. It was there still, only it was burning a bright red. And steadily growing.

He sighed heavily.

"Please forgive me." He looked up at her eyes. "I have been keeping something from you that I shouldn't have."

He gingerly touched her cheek.

Andy

She looked at him with suspicioun. Her hand was throbbing but she dared not look away from his eyes.

"What Jareth?" She whispered hoarsly. His frown became deep.

"I-I was, the best word, jealous, the...kiss, it angered me, I tried to stop it with my one, but it must have only held it off for a while. I thought it had gone for real, but I was mad that it had happened before I got a chance to do it myself."

"Jareth what's going on? What didn't you have a chance to do yourself?"

He thought for a moment, looked everywhere but her eyes. Then he did and everything was in those eyes.

"For you to fall in love with me."

Andy's eyes widened, her blush was more then apparant.

"At first you angered me, but as I got to know you, I couldn't pull away, I had to keep coming foreword, and when your hand was kissed, I thought it was unfair, because I was trying to get to know you and what ever person did this probably didn't even know you first name."

He ran the back of his hand on her cheek, she felt the coolness of his hand, and the feeling in his words flowed through her. Her hand was throbbing worse, but she delibritly ignored it and focused on his words.

He grabbed her good hand and rubbed small circles into her skin.

"Andromeda, love, I think I'm falling for you."

Andy couldn't help but smile at this, she wasn't the only falling, and so quick.

"Good, because if I was the only one falling, that would really suck."

Jareth's eyes widened.

"Y-your w-what?" She put his hand back to her face, and he took the hint and stroked her cheek.

"I'm falling for you, Jareth." He smiled a wicked a grin and smashed his lips to hers. She laughed in his lips, and basked in his delicousness.

"Ah! FUCK!" Andy pulled away. She clutched her hand to her chest, in searing pain. She bit her lipring till it bled.

"Oh, Damn." Jareth quickly pulled her toward him, she tried to pull away. He held her close. Her eyes were closed tight, her face was closed up in pain and she curled into him, and sobbed dryly, no tears came.

"Oh, shhhhh, love, he can sense your burn, he'll be here in a matter of minutes. Oh, love, please forgive me for what I'm going to do, but I'm to selfish to let him have you." He whispered. Andy didn't comprehend his words, the dark of her eyelids started to turn red, her head hurt like crazy, like someone had ignited a scorching fire in her brain.

She couldn't see it but she felt Jareth quickly place his lips roughly on hers. She was in pain and he was kissing her!

That's when the REAL pain came. Jareth pressed his hand onto the decaying flesh of her hand. With his other hand he kept her head pressed against his.

She screamed into his lips.

Smoke curled off of there hands.

There lips stayed smushed together.

She realized these lips were the only thing tying her to sanity.

She realized this man could keep her safe.

He was hurting her.

He was hurting her because he cared.

O.0

A lot of stress in writing this chapter, I really didn't like hurting Andy like this but they can't just have a dandy old time! SORRY if I pissed some of you off!

Review. Please!

-Annie