Author's Note: And here we are, the big 10 . . don't we feel special. *party* And I know this is no excuse . . . but I meant to have this up sooner . . . but for the first week I was worried about grades closing so I was focusing in on that . . . then last week just sucked in general . . . so I figured I might as well start now.
Disclaimer: Basically, the same thing I've been writing for the last 9 chapters . . I don't own anything. Cept for my Phantom of the Opera CD, which I'm still listening to. "You have passed the point of no return . . ."
The Incentive
by Fou Fou
Chapter 10 – Explanations and Forgiveness
The first thing Sarah was aware of as she came back from the blackness that she had disappeared into, was pain. In particular, a migraine. In an attempt to ignore this devil-sent ailment, Sarah noticed a second thing; she was most definitely NOT in her bed in either her bedroom, or back at the college. For one thing, as far as she could remember, she did not have silk sheets, comfy as they were. More than slightly alarmed, she opened one eye to peek around her new surroundings and nearly died of shock. Above her was the huge canopy of dark emerald green velvet that surrounded her bed, giving the appearance of eternal night. Sitting up slowly as to avoid her migraine getting any worse than it was already, she was surprised to hear a high pitched yelp. Looking around hurriedly (then swearing as her headache immediately intensified) she asked "Who said that?" to the unrevealing darkness.
"I did!" cried an indignant voice by her hand.
Looking down, she was surprised to see a familiar worm looking up at her. "Allo."
"You!" she cried with surprise.
"Yes, Miss Sarah, its me," it replied cheerfully, tilting its head sideways.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "And moreover, where is here?"
"Here? Why it's the Labyrinth silly!" he replied. "Miss Mara was worried about you so she sent me."
At the name of Mara, all the events in the bathroom began to replay themselves inside Sarah's mind. "That bitch!" she shrieked. "Where is she?!" she demanded, looking closely at the little worm.
"Well . . .er . . ." the worm stumbled looking away. "It's a secret. . . His Majesty isn't suppose to know."
"I'm not supposed to know what, Worm?" demanded a voice from behind the curtains, causing Sarah's blood to freeze solid in her veins. Immediately, light flooded her senses as the Goblin King himself drew back the curtains surrounding her bed. Looking down at the diminutive worm, he demanded, mismatched eyes blazing, "Have you contacted Mara? Where is she? Why didn't she come back to the Labyrinth?"
"Sh-she's in the Hall of the Mountain King, Your Majesty," said the worm, bowing respectively. "She decided to hide herself from the Underground Council so she is disguising herself as a courtier to avoid attention."
"Figures," huffed Sarah, rolling her eyes. "She just run away and hides, unable to face what she has done."
"You're awake," said Jareth, turning his mismatched towards her.
"You have a keen sense of the obvious."
"And still as charming as you were when you were here the first time. Your manners haven't changed, Sarah. Still as brash and rude as ever."
"Well, living with Mara kinda encourages that sort of behavior."
"That it does . . ." he answered.
"So why am I here?" she demanded, glaring at him from her sitting position, wincing a little because it was forcing her to look at the light, which was not helping her headache.
"I would think you would know that by now, Sarah. Did you not wish for me to take you away?"
"Only because Mara tricked me!"
"What's said is said, as I've said before."
"But it's not fair!"
"I would think that after your adventures here last time you would realize that life is seldom fair. I still fail to comprehend why you would believe otherwise. You and Mara both have this completely unreasonable idea that the universe must circle around yourselves to make everything fair."
"Er . . . I think I'll . . just go," said the worm, looking uneasily between the two figures, poised like warriors prepared for a fight at any second. Neither noticed as he slid away and out of the room.
After a few moments pause Sarah asked, "So why did Mara trick me into coming here? And just who exactly is she? I mean besides an Elvin Princess."
"Mara K'Talven is the daughter of the current king of the Dark Elves, Lord Taranus, but she doesn't get along with her family very well."
"Probably because they can't stand her."
"Actually, it's more of a control issue," replied Jareth cryptically.
"So why did she trick me into coming here?" demanded Sarah again.
Jareth sat down at the end of the large bed, and brushed a hand through his wild blond hair. Sarah pulled her legs away and wrapped her arms around them, looking at him, eyes narrowing. "It is difficult to explain."
"Try me."
Jareth sighed and looked around the canopied area. "Well . . . I suppose you could say it was for personal reasons."
"What kind of personal reasons?" She paused, rolling her eyes with disgust as she said, "Oh God, please don't tell me this is some petty revenge scheme is it? You're mad at me because I solved your stupid Labyrinth, so now you've tricked me back here to settle the score."
"Some people would call it that," replied Jareth vaguely, looking away from her, smiling to himself, making a sudden swarm of butterflies appear in her stomach.
"And you called me irrational," mocked Sarah, rolling her eyes, covering up her uneasy feelings. "What's in this for Mara?"
"Well . . . she was there. Plus there are . . . other complications that she hoped would be resolved."
Sarah rolled her eyes again then laid her head back down on the pillow, since her vision started to spin like she was on a merry-go-round. Closing her eyes in hopes to stop the nauseating sensations, she asked, "So, what's it going to be, Your Majesty, an oubliette, or the Bog of Stench? Or maybe a little bit of both, plus a few days in that freak-ass stair room you've got?"
She was answered by a chuckle from Jareth. "I do believe you've been hanging out with Mara far too long, Miss Williams," he whispered as his weight shifted off the bed. "This, however, shall help you with that nasty headache you are experiencing and are trying so valiantly to hide from me." Sarah felt the brief sensation of lips brushing on her forehead, but just as she was about a cry in outrage, her awareness of her surroundings her began to disappear . . .
But only a moment later the sensation of feeling returned, and she cried, "What the hell was that!?" angrily in the direction she supposed Jareth was.
"Thank the Stars your alright!" came yet another familiar voice, this one to her right. Opening her eyes, Sarah found herself staring into the worried eyes of Mara. Around her were the familiar sights of her bedroom, only where her mirror used to be, there were only shattered remains. "I was worried you weren't going to be coming back to the world of the insane and normal."
"W-was it all a dream then?" asked Sarah, slightly slurred from shock. At least my headache is gone, she thought, somewhat optimistically.
"Well, it depends," said Mara cautiously. "If it had something to do with Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner in a strip show . . . then I would have to say that you were definitely dreaming."
"I don't even want to think about Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner in a strip show . . ." muttered Sarah. "Especially not at . . . 7:48 in the morning," she continued, glancing at her clock.
"However . . . if you did happen to have a dream involving me, a bathroom, Jareth the Goblin King, lots of yelling and whatnot . . . then I'm afraid it is true."
Mara was promptly answered with a painful slap across the face.
"I guess I probably deserved that," she said, as she raised a hand to her cheek, rubbing it painfully.
"You're damn right you did!" snapped Sarah. "How could you do something like that to me, Mara? I thought we were friends! But no . . this is just some big revenge thing that you and your great fri . . ."
"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Mara, cutting in. "What's all this about revenge?"
"You remember . . . your big plan to make me pay for beating the two of you at the Labyrinth!"
"It had nothing to do with that! If there was any sort of revenge reasons I did it was towards my father! I couldn't care less that you won the Labyrinth. Hell, I was impressed. Your the first person to ever do that. It's just because afterwards Jareth . . . well . . . he changed."
"Changed?" asked Sarah skeptically, raising an eyebrow and her "friend."
"Well, in all the years I've known Jareth . . . and believe me, it's been a long time, he has never ever had a serious romantic attachment to anyone. Oh sure, he'd have his . . . passionate trysts with many other females in the court, but he never was actually romantically attached to any of them. Then, one day, he met this girl. A bright, beautiful, clever girl who beat him in his famous Labyrinth. He felt something for her that he never felt for anyone before, and so he offered her anything she desired, just as long as she would love him . . . fear him . ."
"And he would be her slave," finished Sarah, comprehension beginning to dawn in her eyes.
Mara nodded. "Well, naturally, she refused, being too concerned about her little brother whom she had wished away, she refused. . . of course, Sarah, I would have refused too. What he was asking for was not love . . . and least not the healthy kind. Not to mention the fact that it is kinda pervy for him to be asking a 15 year old to basically marry him. I mean, I would seriously be wondering if he was a pedophile . . ."
"Great . . now I've got images of a King Jareth – Michael Jackson personality in my head. I told you I don't want stuff like that in my head in the morning . . . or anytime of the day. Thanks a lot Mara." To show her level of grossed-outness, Sarah cringed.
"No problem. Well, back to the story . . . after making sure that this girl was safely home and with her friends, he returned to his castle, defeated. Entering the throne room, he found his long-time friend, who just happens to be an Elvin Princess with red hair . . ."
"You."
"Yup. I had just come back from visiting home when the challenge to run the Labyrinth was initiated. I had gone home as kinda an obligatory family thing. It was my sister's birthday as well as the Naming Day of her 4th child. I wouldn't have gone, but I figured Jareth needed a break from me, since I live mostly at the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. To add to the fact, I was kinda suffering from Elvin PMS at the time, and I couldn't stand the goblins, so I thought, in my hormonally disoriented mind, that it would be more peaceful at home. Was I ever wrong."
"What happened."
"Well, my father and I never got along. I was telling you the truth when I said that he didn't accept me because of my red hair. Dark Elves have always traditionally been dark haired and brown eyed. The royal family is required by law to be pureblooded Dark Elves, and my father took great pride in it."
"But your hair is red . . ."
"Thus, he was convinced that somehow his wife cheated on him . . . despite the fact that I had a completely normal twin sister – and all magical tests proved that he was my father. They didn't mind that she married outside the race though, since the guy she married was a Light Elf, and I had an older brother who had already married the right female, thus securing his position as heir. I was the one who was abnormal." Mara paused in her narrative, and looked thoughtfully at nothing. "I remember the time when he was pleased with me once. . . but those events are long since passed." Shaking her head, she continued. "Well, when I got home, I got a wonderful surprise. My father had arranged a marriage contract, with the help of the Underground Council, that was forcing me to wed Jareth. The council has never liked me and they figured it was the best way to get me out of the hair, since they hoped Jareth could keep me under control . . . though he never was able to before."
"Wait, Jareth is your fiancé!??" demanded Sarah, feeling a strange twist in her gut that she could not identify. Probably indigestion.
"Yeah, I wasn't able to tell him until after you won though. . . I was too busy babysitting your little brother and planning the ballroom scene. I hoped you liked the dress. I designed it myself. I got your measurements when you fell down the big pit of 'helping hands.'"
"So that's how you had it," mused Sarah, feeling decidedly uncomfortable that those hands had been taking her measurements as they grabbed all parts of her body. As my mind goes even deeper into the gutter . . .
"Yeah . . . well I'm getting way off track here, so I'll try to tie it back into what I was talking about. After you won, it was like a part of Jareth was ripped away. He couldn't understand why you refused him, and it was tearing him in two. He loves you, Sarah."
"You have got to be joking me. He certainly didn't seem very loving when I was back at the Labyrinth five minutes ago."
"Wait, you were in the Underground?" demanded Mara.
"Yeah, that's what the worm said . . . speaking of the worm, he said you were in the Hall of the Mountain King. Unless I'm mistaken, the Hall of the Mountain Kingdom does not look like my bedroom! And what the heck happened to my mirror?"
"I told the worm to tell Jareth that," explained Mara. "You see, my father and the rest of the Underground sent Garith to the Aboveground, or Earth, to try and stop me from getting out of my marriage with Jareth. When Garith discovered that I had found a . . . special connection between you and Jareth that could cause the marriage contract to become void, he told my father and the rest of the council, who decided to put up a barrier between the worlds, trapping you and me on one side, away from Jareth until the wedding on Midsummer's Eve. Garith, in one of his rare fits of generosity, bestowed this information to me at the bookstore yesterday morning."
"Wait, Garith was at the bookstore? But I thought he was staying back at the college."
"Well, what can I say? He's a psychopathic stalker. He followed us here. He was also in the cafe, listening to what we were saying, all the time shamelessly flirting with his latest whore. I wouldn't be surprised if he was at the game store last night either."
"Speaking of the game store, how did we get back?"
"I don't know. I'm assuming Eric had something to do with it, but I couldn't say."
"Ah. . . well what about this barrier? And how does that have to do about my mirror?"
"Well, you know how I left the bookstore to drop some stuff off at home?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I used that time to call Jareth through your mirror . . . since Jareth set it up as a cross-World communicator after you beat him. That's how you were able to contact Hoggle and the rest of your friends for a time. Because the barrier was already being erected, it caused the mirror to start to crack in the middle of the communication. When Jareth went to take us back to the Labyrinth, I noticed some detection spells keyed to us, so I tried to stop us from going back. (Ok, and I also felt guilty – which is kinda a new experience for me.) I tried to pull the two of us back to the Aboveground, but somehow, your spirit got you stuck halfway in between. The Labyrinth, being a greedy . . whatever, is trying to keep your entire spirit in the Underground. When I woke up late last night and used the mirror to contact the worm before time was up, I found out you were somehow in the Labyrinth. I then created a spell that would, hopefully, tie you into this world, at least when you were asleep in the Labyrinth, since I personally don't have enough power to drag you fully out of the Labyrinth. Jareth might, but only if the barrier was still down. But the spell I created was keyed to me, so as long as I have magic to feed the spell, you can keep coming back to this world when nighttime falls in the Labyrinth."
"And if you stop providing magic?"
Mara shrugged. "Well, you'll be living your life free of me, I can guarantee you that." She paused and took another breath, collecting herself. "I got the worm to help me connect the spell to your Labyrinth-counterpart self and to tell Jareth that I was in the Hall of the Mountain King, so he wouldn't worry, especially about Garith. We were in the middle of saying goodbye when the barrier was completed, causing the mirror to break from the strain. I went to bed soon after that since the whole spell-casting kinda exhausted me."
"Is that it?"
"Basically."
"And Garith is a vampire?"
"Yeah. A British one at that. He was born in 1572 and was waiting for his father to die so he could become a Viscount when he was bitten and turned into the unholy terror we know today. I really didn't know him before this whole fiasco. . . but I knew of him. His reputation was quite well known in the Underground. Half the court was madly in love with him, and I suspect he was doing some sort of blood magic . . . but I really don't know. He isn't exactly the nicest of people. He even scares me. And I'm a pretty scary individual myself."
"Ah."
"Look, Sarah, I'm really sorry about all this. Could you please forgive me?"
Sarah studied the person who had become a dear friend to her over the course of the several months she had been at college. Remembering all the fun times they use to have studying together. Shopping together. Talking late at night about books together.
"Why didn't Jareth say all this about him liking me? Why did he come up with the whole revenge thing?"
Mara looked at her friend and raised an eyebrow. "Did he actually say that, or did you interpret what he said to mean that?" she asked. "In any case, You know men. They have the hardest time dealing with their own feelings, let alone admitting them to anyone. Not to mention the fact that when you last talked, you weren't exactly on the best of terms. Jareth is proud, and he really doesn't like admitting anything that he foresees as a possible 'weakness.' He's too manly for it. . . after all, which explains why he wears those God forsaken tights all the time. Plus we were hoping that the council would believe that the whole scheme was revenge and not a quest for true love."
This last comment was enough to reward a laugh out of Sarah. "Well then, I guess I forgive you."
"You guess?"
"Hey, don't push it."
"Believe me, I won't," replied Mara. "You are one of the best friends I've ever had, the other being Jareth."
"I'm sorry."
"Just . . just give Jareth a chance, ok? Deep down, under that arrogant SOB facade, he is actually a really nice guy. He was always there when I needed a shoulder to cry on and a friend to get drunk with. I think you'd like him if you just gave him a chance."
Sarah shrugged. "We'll see. Jareth still doesn't seem to be the type you could cry to though."
Mara laughed. "I know, but he is surprisingly sympathetic. My one and only love affair turned into a total disaster when he met my sister, fell in love, and ended up marring her. Jareth was the one person I could turn to. Goodness knows my father was too excited about his darling getting married to notice me." She sighed, the stretched, before saying, "Well, now that I have confessed my sins to the all-forgiving Sarah, how about some breakfast? Your parents are out with Toby, and I assure you, my cooking is much better than that crap that the goblins make. I was thinking pancakes, M&M pancakes. Nothing solves problems like chocolate."
Sarah laughed, then stood up next to Sarah. "It's a deal," she said, smiling, and the two walked out of the room.
Author's Note:
I have too much fun writing these. Right now my entire leg is asleep for some reason . . . just thought you'd like to know. Thank you Megs for doing a beta for this . . . I love you darling.
I hope I was able to make in comprehensible to what happened. Basically, Sarah got caught by the barrier being strengthened, so her spirit floats back and forth between the Labyrinth and Earth. The Labyrinth, being magical, provided her spirit with a body that looks like hers, and is trying to keep her totally in the Labyrinth. Mara is attempting to negate those effects by tying her spirit to her body in this world, but that can only keep happening if Mara has magic to feed the spell. (And as we know from several chapters back . . . Mara needs the magic to survive, and she has just been caught off from her supplier . . . so only reading fantasy can she get just a sliver of magic). Hopefully, Garith won't find this out for some time . . .
Kudos to anyone who figured out Stephan was Garith. I tried to make it obvious, I even had to look back at previous chapters and check information on his appearance.
I appreciate to all of you who reviewed the last chapter, and I wish I updated sooner. Next chapter should have Mara and Eric's date at the Olive Garden (I love that restaurant) with maybe Garith showing up (yes/no? give me ideas please) with maybe her telling him who she is and her finding out how she got back. Any suggestions about that would be appreciated. We'll also have some Sarah/Jareth as she attempts to follow Mara's advice to give him a chance. . . Key word . . "attempts"
Well . . . I probably should go back to studying French. . . I have a quiz tomorrow, and the teacher said I haven't been putting enough effort into the class (probably has to do with the fact that I'm falling asleep during her reading of "Le Petit Prince" . .. oops) . . . nm . . I have to cook instead. *cringes with horror* Which means you'll be reading this tomorrow . . since this is Thursday at about 11:05 PM. (I'm a night owl)
R&R
Personal thanks:
if-666: I hoped this kinda explained what's going on with Sarah. And no, unfortunately, the Cinderella story I am contemplating is not a Laby sequel (however. . . . the idea is VERY appealing . . . but I wanna finish this one first)
Jazzy P: You and Les Mis . . . here was some more worm for you. He probably won't be back for a while though.
Jessie Deal: I'm glad you liked it. . . actually, I thought he was a brunette when I originally wrote this chapter . . .but when I went back it said he definitely had black hair . . so yeah.
Carapheonix: NOOOOOO!! I'm sry I'm sry . . I meant to update sooner really I did! *Franticly attempts to drag you out of the water, sobbing my head off*
Rain Callaway: Oops! Thanks for pointing it out. . . I'll try to go back and fix it.
di-sama: Thanks! I hoped you liked this chapter!
goblingurl: I hope you like this chapter!
LadyAniviel: *greedily munches down on Oreo* I'm glad you liked the last chapter. . . even though cliff hangers are evil for readers . . I still like writing them. Give me food for thought when I start the next chapter.
janine: I'm glad you liked it. . . the worm won't be the only movie character to show up . . . Hoggle and the rest will make their appearance soon.
SummerBreeze3: THANKS! *grins*
kalinda: I try my best to get these chapters approved by my audience. . . hope you like this one!
draegon-fire: Well . . she woke up with Jareth . . body and all . . . but only for a while . .since he sent her back to sleep . .thus sending her to Mara, who has woken up and has been flipping out about her. . . yeah . .Garith is Stephan . . I was kinda thinking about having him show up at the restaurant with Eric going all "Hey Stephan" and Mara looking at him going "What the hell?!" dunno though. . . Jareth/Sarah niceness with come!
LabyLvrPhx: Well, they've talked. . . and it wasn't exactly the friendliest . .and it will still take them a while.
kili-2: YAY COMPUTER IS WORKING!!!! *eats candy* I LOVE STAR WARS TOO!!!! My room is kinda covered with it. . . and I normally ever have one of the books with me. . .trying to find a copy of the book after "Heir to the Empire." Yeah .. a lot of my friends think I'm crazy . . especially when for an English speech I discussed Star Wars.
Mystical Star: Hey . . normally I'm too lazy to sign in too. . . um .. can you wake up now? I don't think running around until you pass out is very healthy.