Chapter 4

Bruised

As she calmly walked away, Sarah's strange coolness towards the situation perplexed her, but that feeling was soon locked away.

"Sarah!" the man shouted, forcing open the curtains wide, his tone annoyed. She looked behind her, and cursed silently.

Shit! She thought, Please, please tell me I'm drunk! Instead, she turned around, and glared at him.

"Get out of my home," she growled, inching towards her bed side table, which contained a gun, "Before I call the cops on your ass! Get. Out!"

The man smirked, unfazed by her fiery glare, and stepped inside her bedroom, closing in like a predator does its prey. His smirk turned mischievous, and he was soon right in her face, brushing his hand across her cheek. She swatted it away, and stepped away from the stranger before her.

For some reason, she didn't feel the need to scream, or get him out; in fact, a part of her wanted him to stay. But why? She didn't know him.

"I see you don't remember me," he said, sorrow flashing so fast over his angular face that for a moment, Sarah was sure she had imagined it. She continued to glare at him, crinkling her nose in anger.

"No shit," she snarled, her hand slowly pulling out the drawer which held the gun, "Get out. Now. You're breaking and entering my property, so get out." Technically, a little voice squeaked, you let him in. You opened the window. She gritted her teeth at the thought.

The man grinned a slight half smile, and chuckled, but no words graced his lips. His face became slightly confused as he watched Sarah's angry face turn into a smirk. What he couldn't see was her fingers curling around the all too familiar handle of her gun, the cold metal making her adrenaline rush faster. As she raised it upwards to point at his head, the man lunged forward, grabbing her wrists, forcing the gun out of her hands in doing so.

Sarah bared her teeth at him, thrashing to get away. Though she raised her leg to knee him in between the legs, something heavy and cold seemed to settle there, rendering them useless. The man leaned in, his face so close to hers that their noses touched, causing Sarah to freeze, fear grabbing her heart with an iron grip.

Anger soon melted the icy hold of fear, and she rammed her forehead against his. Despite the fact that her head soon throbbed, and dots swam in her vision, the man showed little injury.

"That wasn't nice," he growled, gripping her wrists harder. Sarah made an enraged animalistic sound in her throat, glaring at him with such ferocity that she wouldn't be surprised to see his icy blue eye melt, and his hazel one catch on fire.

His eyes traveled over her face, but then suddenly widened as his gaze stopped, transfixed on her scar. Realizing this, Sarah's face burned, and she turned away, her left side facing that wall so that he wouldn't be able to see the marred side of her face. She quietly begged that he would leave it alone, but he did not hear this silent plea.

Releasing one of her of wrists, he turned her face, so that he could examine it closer. Out of her corner of her eyes, Sarah saw something strange happen with the man's. Both of his irises turned into an ominous midnight black, glittering slightly, almost as it there were stars accompanying the night sky in his eyes. .

"Who. Did. This?" he said through clenched teeth. Sarah laughed harshly, sneering.

"What do you care?" she snapped, "Go away, I don't even know you!" Sorrow filled his once anger filled eyes, causing Sarah pain for some reason. One of his ringed fingers traced the scar from her ear to the corner of her eye gently, almost lovingly. Despite the fact that she told herself not to, she flinched away, as if struck.

Anger reignited in the man's eyes, darkening them, causing fear to burn yet again in Sarah's heart. The anger radiating off of the man before her also caused a word to appear in her mind, almost like a whisper.

Jareth…

Suddenly, pain rippled throughout her mind, causing her to gasp in agony. Jareth, something screamed feebly, Jareth! A wave of nausea ran through her body, hand in hand with the mind numbing pain.

The man, whom her mind told her was named Jareth, backed away slightly as her knees gave out, and she crumbled to the ground. She no longer cared that some stranger stood before her, she only wished for the pain to end.

"Make it stop!" she whimpered, clutching her head so that it wouldn't explode, "Make it-," but she couldn't finish her sentence, as another wave of pain came. Tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes, and she held in the sobs. Jareth knelt down, tenderly placing his shaking hands on Sarah's body, hoping something could bring her out of this state.

How long he had waited to see the Champion of the Labyrinth again, and she remembered nothing! To top that all off, their reunion had left a bitter taste in Jareth's mouth, and here she sat, crying about an unseen agony, only visual on her face.

"Please," Sarah whimpered, tears no longer flowing. Slowly, the pain ebbed away, causing her to relax slightly. As she pulled away her hands from her head, she almost expected to see chunks of her skull falling off, but there was nothing. Exhausted and worn to the bone, Sarah collapsed onto the ground, a helpless Jareth watching.

Shouldn't we do something about that guy? A little voice asked Sarah. Not right now, she answered meekly, maybe tomorrow, but not right now….let me sleep.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

Harsh light shone on Sarah's closed eyes, which quickly fluttered open. She groaned as she raised a hand to shield her vulnerable eyes, turning away from the source of the light. As she closed her eyes, snuggling into her covers, Sarah remembered the odd dream from last night, wondering what on earth it could have meant.

Usually, she was pretty good on interpreting dreams, but this one had her stumped.

"Hello," a deep voice greeted, causing a vision of a smirk to appear in her mind. Oh God, no! Sarah almost screamed, reluctantly creaking open one eye lid. There, leaning on her door way, his hair a little messy, was Jareth. His eyes sparkled as he took in her pissed off face, and he chuckled slightly.

"Not you!" Sarah groaned, turning away from the man, "Go away! Take the money, take whatever the hell you want, just leave me alone!" She could almost hear him smirk, which made her seethe silently.

Her hard wood floor creaked as he walked towards her bed slowly, almost as if he was drawing out the event. Just as the footsteps subsided, Sarah turned over to snap something at him when she almost butted heads with him. Jareth's eyes widened as hers did, her surprise reflecting back at her in his mismatched eyes. As he took a step backwards, Sarah's face flushed, and she rolled away, falling off the bed.

As she shouted, "What the hell, man?" Jareth roared, "That was uncalled for!" She stood up, the covers still clinging to her head, almost like a cloak, and she glared at him.

"You're the weirdo in my home!" she seethed, "That is totally uncalled for!" Jareth's eyebrows furrowed, and he growled.

"You being incredibly ungrateful is very uncalled for!" he shouted back, his face twisting in anger. Sarah scoffed, laughing sarcastically. As her eyes strayed to the clock near her bed, she gasped suddenly, her eyes almost popping out of her sockets.

A string of curse words that left Jareth feeling rather uncomfortable sprang out of her mouth like wild fire, and she scrambled into the kitchen. "God damnit!" she screamed, stuffing a piece of bread in her mouth, "Wha id oo to ta mah glock?" Jareth stared at her in confusion. Her sudden change in emotions was rather overwhelming; he didn't remember her being like this.

Sarah gulped down a glass of milk to get the bread down, and pounded on her chest so that she could breathe. "What did you do to my clock?" she repeated, running a brush through her tangles as she ran back to her room.

"You mean the beeping thing?" Jareth asked, "I threw it out of the window." A scream echoed out from behind Sarah's closed door, and she emerged, wearing crumbled pants, an unbuttoned blouse, and one sock.

"Why'd you do that?" she yelled, bending over to get on her other sock. Jareth's face uncharacteristically lit up as he "accidentally" looked down her shirt, causing him to look away.

"It was rather annoying," he answered with a casual shrug. Sarah groaned as she straightened up, and then ran to her bathroom. Crap, her mind yelled, Work! Got to get this weirdo out of here, then go! She began brushing her teeth, and quickly put on a little bit of make-up.

"You!" she yelled, pointing at a rather confused Jareth, "Get out! I'm leaving, and I don't want you in my home!" She opened the door, and then grabbed him by the shoulder. "Out!" she yelled, and closed the door before he could object.

"Fine!" Jareth yelled back, kicking the door childishly. Realizing this, his head fell into his gloved hands with shame, and he sighed. What is wrong with me? He thought as he walked away from Sarah's apartment.

A crash echoed from her apartment, causing him to jump, and twirl around. The door flew open, and Sarah burst out, colliding with the opposite wall. As she bounced off of that wall, she slammed her door shut, locking it within a few seconds. "Move movemovemove!" she yelled, her words running together as she said them so quickly. As she ran by a slightly scared Jareth, he felt a wave of wind that made his hair move.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

"Woah, Sarah, what's up with you?" Hannah asked, poking the brunette who had arrived an hour late for work in the shoulder. Sarah turned her head to look at the girl, a vein bulging in her forehead. Scary dark aura, Hannah thought as she shrank back.

"Sorry," Sarah replied with a sigh, "Just having a bad day." She ran her fingers through her hair, her thoughts returning to Jareth. What did he want with her? Who was he exactly? Why did he seem so familiar? These thoughts rolled around in her mind, refusing to be cleared away.

Hannah inched away from the fuming woman, quietly telling her co-workers to leave Sarah alone; they didn't need to be told twice.

"Hello," someone said meekly. Sarah looked up from her desk, a kind smile breaking out on her face as she recognized the girl in front of her. But, her eyes widened when she realized something extremely different about the girl.

"Anna!" Sarah exclaimed, "Hi! I like what you're done with your hair!" Anna grinned confidently, her fingers unconsciously pulling on her hot pink hair, one side longer than the other.

"Thanks," she replied, setting a mountain of books on Sarah's desk. She sighed, and quickly stamped them all, sliding them towards Anna, who quickly thanked her. As she walked away, Sarah noticed large bruises covered her arms, and Anna limped slightly.

Sarah's brown eyes narrowed, and she stood up slightly, making sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. They weren't. A large, blue and yellow bruise encircled Anna's thin wrist, a healed cut right above it.

"Hey Hannah," Sarah called, "I'm going to take a quick break, ok?" The college student quickly nodded, still a little afraid of the older woman. Sarah nodded, and quickly followed Anna. Something was seriously wrong; she could feel that in her gut. Usually, her gut was right.

She remained a few steps behind the pink haired girl, but it was quite easy, as her punk hairstyle stood out from the dull environment around them. Puddles of slush soaked her shoes, but she paid little attention to herself, as her main focus was on Anna.

Indeed, her right leg seemed to be injured, causing her to limp. At one point, she pulled up her pants leg, checking her leg. Sarah's eyes widened as Anna checked her leg, giant bruises and cuts covering her skin, so much so that her pale skin looked deformed. Her hand flew to her mouth, horror making her heart stop. Content with what she had been checking, Anna continued on, down a street with cookie cutter houses.

"Horrifying, isn't it?" someone asked behind Sarah, causing her to jump. As she turned, her horror filled eyes watched Jareth grimly jerk his head towards Anna, who disappeared into one of the houses.

Eclipse: Hehehehe, cliff hanger! By the way, here's a little tidbit of info: When Sarah was speaking with the bread in her mouth, I actually stuffed my fist into my mouth, and said her line, to see what it would sound like. ^^

SHOUT OUT!

Rocky181- Here ya go! Thanks for the review!

ScarlettBlue – Aye aye, captain! That just made my day, thanks!

REVIEW!