Disclaimer: All people, persons, places, ext mentioned in this story belong to their respected owners. I'm not making any money off of this so don't sue me.
Also, sorry for dropping off the edge of the planet. Life has been crazy.
The Incentive
by Fou Fou
Chapter Fifteen – In Which There Is Yet Again Much Yelling, A Less Than Legal Break-In And A Kidnapping
"So you've known for the past three months that her Highness, Princess Mara was on Earth, and you not only withheld this information from me, but deliberately lied to me about her location."
"Begging your pardon, Your M-Majesty," quavered the high voice of Mr. Worm, "But Miss Mara asked me too . . ." he trailed off, looking terrified as the Goblin King's face transformed into a mask of rage.
"Mara is not your sovereign, I am," he said coolly. "Your loyalty is to me, not to some pig-headed Elvin Princess who is currently in a coma!
"I can very well see why she didn't want to tell you," snapped Sarah tiredly from where she stood, leaning against the wall next to the Worm's humble abode that the three of them were standing outside of.
"I beg your pardon?" asked Jareth, turning to face her, face expressionless as a snake, frozen, ready to strike an the slightest provocation.
Lack of sleep and stress caused Sarah to plow on, headless of the warning signs radiating from the Goblin King, "Well, just look at you, you're completely overreacting!"
"Me, overreacting?"
"Yes, you yelling at everybody is not going to help at all. Mara probably knew you'd act like this and didn't tell you . . ."
"Thus subverting my authority over my subjects. It might just be Mr. Worm today, but if the Goblins stop obeying me then the very stability of the Labyrinth is called into question. Mara didn't realize this, and now she's trapped without magical aide in the Aboveground."
"I'm sure Tom, Andrew, and Garith will look after her. Especially after what happened in Borders . . ." One look at Jareth and she realized that was probably not the best thing to have mentioned.
"Garith has only two things on his mind, Miss Williams," said Jareth coolly, reverting to calling her by her last name as he always did when the two were on the brink of another World War with each other. "Sex, and getting his mission completed. In this case, his mission is to stop Mara, and myself for that matter, by way of the dirtiest tricks he can come up with."
"You don't understand," argued Sarah. "I really think he cares for her!"
"Garith cares only about himself," snapped Jareth. "I've told you what he is! What he has done!"
"Actually, that was more of a vague 'he's the reason people fear vampires' than a true explanation." She paused, eyes flickering momentarily to where the worm was sneaking back into his home quietly before continuing in a somewhat faltering voice, "In any case, he really is a nice guy once you get to know him. He even ditched the Horde of Barbarian Whores when he realized how uncomfortable it was making Mara."
Jareth's face twisted even more with anger as he pronounced coolly, "You're a fool."
"And how's that?" asked Sarah, matching his tone. "As far as I know you have never met him in more than a formal environment. I have, and Garith has proven to be a very nice person who is understanding and listens to people, which is more than I could say for some people." That didn't come out right, thought Sarah as she watched Jareth's face instantly smooth out into an expressionless mask.
"Well then," he said haughtily. "When we figure out how to get you to the Aboveground, we won't hesitate to get you back with your precious Garith."
"Look Jareth, I didn't mean it that way," Sarah pleaded, trying to ratify the situation.
"Miss Williams, you've been up for a long time. You must be tired."
"Don't you dare start changing the subject, Jar . ." She trailed of, finding herself back in her room yelling at her reflection in the mirror. Instantly she pronounced some rather crude phrases involving Jareth in some anatomically impossible situations involving a polka dotted penguin. Storming over to the door, she attempted to open it, only to find it locked from the outside. This led to yet another round of insults, more graphic than the first. "Fine, run away! Act like a child for all I care!" she cried, pounding on the door angrily. After a few minutes of thing this without gaining any ground (Jareth did not appear and the door refused to dent), she eventually gave up. Walking over to the large bed and sprawling out sideways on it, she sighed sadly. Closing her eyes, she felt herself drop for the first time in months into the blissful oblivion of unconsciousness.
The Goblin King in question was in fact miles away from the Labyrinth itself, finding himself once again in the lobby of the Diamond Keep.
"Jareth, what are you doing here?" came a female voice from behind him. Turning around, he recognized the speaker as the druid Arinu.
"If it isn't my favorite secretary . . ." he began, oozing charm.
Arinu rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Let me rephrase that . . . what do you want?"
Jareth beckoned her to a dark corner of the room. "I need some help . . ."
"What did you do now, Jareth?" she asked in a lowered voice.
"You know the barrier, between the Aboveground and Underground?"
"Yes, for the whole Mara thing, despite the propaganda claiming contrary that the Underground has been spreading around lately."
"Well, something's happened to Mara. We think that she's got into a coma from a magic deficiency due to iron's effect on elves and other magical beings."
"Wait a minute, what do you mean we?"
Jareth cursed his slip of the tongue inwardly. "While the barrier was being resurrected, I tried to take Sarah to the Labyrinth. Something happened, and Mara tried to keep her in the Aboveground . . . ."
"She must have noticed the detections spells the Council had the Magick Team resurrect with the barrier," reasoned Arinu.
"In any case, somehow Sarah's spirit got caught halfway between the two worlds, letting her travel to both worlds. I didn't know this had happened until in the middle of last night when Mara's magic failed and Sarah was fully centered into this world. Apparently Mara had been wasting her magic trying to keep Sarah on Earth . . ."
"And since Elves need the Underground to replenish their magic since the lack of sources in the Aboveground she had no way of replacing her depleted reserves and collapsed." said Arinu, eyes widening behind her glasses. "Oh Stars, she could die without her magic!"
"I was under the impression that elves magic being linked to their life was a secret, but yes. Sarah confirmed to me that Mara has been showing from sometime every example of exhaustion."
"We've got to do something," decided Arinu. "I was on my way to go for a dinner with my boyfriend, but I'm sure he'll understand."
"How are things going there? Is he still that druid you were going out with back in December?"
"Yeah. He's really, really, good in . . ."
"I don't want to know," said Jareth hurriedly. "So how can we do this?"
"Well, the Magick Working Room is in the basement levels of the complex, it's pretty secure. If we can get past the spells, we might be able to convince whoever is down there to help us out."
"Any idea what's down there? Or where the Magick Room is exactly?"
"No, but I think I can get a hold of a map. My boyfriend . . . his name is Marrick by the way, is good with security spells, I might be able to get him to help us."
"I tremble to know how he knows that."
Arinu smiled. "Yeah, I sometimes wonder that too. In any case, he should be here right about . . ."
"Arinu, whatever are you doing here in this corner? And who is this man?" came a male voice from behind them. Turning around, Jareth saw that it belonged to a man who appeared to be a druid, judging by the aura he was getting from him. He had short red hair and light, almost purple eyes that were looking at Jareth with suspicion.
"Hi, Marrick, darling. This is Jareth, King of the Goblins."
"Pleased to meet you," said Jareth, shaking Marrick's hand.
"Mutual, I'm sure," was Marrick's reply. "You wouldn't happen to the Jareth who is marrying the Elf King's daughter? The one who this barrier business is about?" At Jareth's shocked expression, Marrick smiled, "I like to know things that go on around here."
Figuring that was as much of an answer that he was going to get, Jareth nodded. "Yes. Mara is in the Aboveground, and thanks to the barrier she's currently trapped there."
"Well obviously. That was the point of the barrier."
"It has, unfortunately, blocked off her source to magic, and she is currently in a coma in the Aboveground."
"And you need some help getting the barrier down?" asked Marrick.
"Unfortunately, there are detection spells and whatnot between the lobby and the Magick Working room, where the barrier spell is located," explained Arinu. "I can provide the map, and possible details on how to get there, but I don't of the experience in getting down there. I was wondering if you were willing to help."
Marrick broke into a wide grin. "Sounds just like my type of fun."
Mage Adept Rawthorn gave a sigh of relief as he finally finished the last part of the deactivation of the barrier. Thank the Stars that taking down the barrier is easier than putting it up. Still, it's going to be a while before I stop feeling the effects of doing that in less than thirteen hours. He took a wearied step towards the chair outside of the circle and sat down, exhausted. Not five seconds later, did the door break open and he was greeted by the determined faces of a fae and druid.
"How do you get the barrier down," demanded the fae, as a glass bubble appeared in his hand, which he held ready to throw at Rawthorn.
"May I ask who you are?" asked Rawthorn.
"I'm Jareth . . "
"Ah yes, my niece's fiancé. I am pleased to meet you. And who is your friend?"
"That's a need to know answer. I see no reason for you to need to know that," said the druid icily.
"Ah," said Rawthorn. "Well, as to your question to the barrier, I just brought it down. I was alerted to the passage of Miss Sarah Williams to the Labyrinth last night by spells placed on the barrier. Being naturally worried how she got here, I check my niece, Mara, and was surprised to find that all her magic had somehow been sapped, except for a small amount keeping her alive. Knowing that it would not be enough to sustain her until the scheduled day to take down the barrier, I decided to do it myself. As you see, it did zap much of my reserves, so I apologize for not greeted you two properly."
"You took it down?" asked Marrick with amusement.
"So you mean all those guard spells we had to sneak by and disable were for nothing?"
"I thought it was fun."
"You didn't nearly drown."
"Actually, sirs, it helps that you came down," interrupted Rawthorn. "You see, the Underground Council will soon discover that I have taken down the barrier. If I leave the room before my scheduled break ends, it will cause mayhem. They may very well know that I have now. Out of the three of us here, I am the only one who knows the precise location of my niece."
"Your point is?" asked Jareth.
"Let me come with you. My ass is already going to be on the line for what I just did. I'm one of the top mages in the Underground, and once my magic sources are replenished, I can provide much help to you."
"Can you take us to Mara?" asked Jareth.
"Yes, though I only have enough power to transport one of you . . ."
"And I can only go over in human form if wished there or when the barrier is very weak . . ." reasoned Jareth.
"I'll stay behind," volunteered Marrick. "I'm the one who has the capabilities of getting out without detection. Plus I really don't have any connection with this Mara that I know of, so it would make more sense if her fiancé went, even though you don't want to be her fiancé."
"Thank you, Marrick," said Jareth.
"Hell, I don't mind. I'll just be going out on that lunch with Arinu. Or rather, dinner now, considering how long we were navigating those hallways," said Marrick with a smile. He turned towards the door, gave them a wave, and than left.
Rawthorn turned towards Jareth. "I'm going to need your help, since I'm not at full power," said Rawthorn. "I think with your help we might be able to break through to the Aboveground from this room, despite the spells around it. However, it will reveal to the Council what we are doing. I feel that time is of the essence, all things considering, and it would be more advisable if we left from here."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Lord Taranus?"
"Why, Krish, what a surprise! What are you doing here?"
"Your brother took the barrier down. It would seem that somehow Miss Williams has penetrated the barrier."
"Damn."
Out of all experiences in his life, Garith decided this one was probably the worst. There was something about hanging out with a suspicious doctor and police officer drilling him that wasn't amusing. Apparently, Tom and Andrew had both told the police that he and Mara were in yet another fight when she had collapsed, followed by yet the equally disturbing disappearance of Sarah. Considering the fact that the last time Mara needed to go to the hospital was when the two of them got in a fight and she collapsed in the middle of the room . . . things just didn't look good for Garith. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was nearly morning, and he was beginning to feel exauhsted.
"What is your relationship with Miss Mara Knight?"
Knight? Oh yeah, that's her pseudo name here, I forgot that . . . normally she goes by K'Talven. "We know each other from back home. Sort of family friends." Well, as in her father hired me to keep her from getting out of an arranged marriage.
"So there is nothing . . . uh nothing . . uh . . .deeper?"
Ha! I wish. Officer I thing she's more interested in killing me than going out with me. "No . . . just friends."
"What were you arguing about?"
Um . . . the fact that she was pissed of at me for that thing that happened to the elevator because I almost went full vamp on her. Oh, and the fact that I sometimes accidentally go peeking into her mind. "She didn't want me visiting to her."
"Why?"
"Our friendship involves more yelling at each other than anything else. . ."
"What about Miss Sarah Williams? What happened to her? You said she was in your room when she suddenly disappeared."
Yeah . . you see officer, Mara ran out of magic to keep Sarah here in the Aboveground so Sarah is off vacationing with her lover, Jareth. "I don't know, sir. It was really weird. Like one of those things from the twilight zone or something."
"Have you been doing drugs, young man?"
I'm bloody older than you pal, by a few hundred years. "No."
"Alcohol?"
"No."
"Are you prone to blackouts?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"You know, you blank out for a moment and then find yourself somewhere where you have no idea how you got there."
"Not to my knowledge . . ." Why am I doing this? Can I see Mara now? Let me see Mara. You will take me to Mara!
"This whole situation, young man, is very suspicious, that's all I'm saying. You were alone with these girls for at least ten seconds, and suddenly one is missing, and the other is now in a coma for an indefinite amount of time. You can see why one would be . . . interested . . . in knowing if you possibly had anything to do with it, since you were obviously the last person to be with them."
"Look sir, I'm upset what happened, but I did nothing, I swear. I don't know what happened to Sarah Williams," or, if I did tell you where I believed her to be, you'd put me in the psycho ward, "And I'm just as worried as anyone else." Considering the fact that there is nothing you little humans can do to stop her magic depletion. Not unless you could somehow open up the portal and drag her back in . . .
"Sir, two men just showed up. One is claiming he is Miss Knight's uncle," said a young man coming into the room.
"I thought you said she didn't have any family, son."
"I thought wrong apparently." What the hell? How did they get across the border? Did she have family already here that I didn't know about?
"Bring them in, we'll see if they recognize this family friend."
After a few moments of staring at the bald spot on the interrogation officer's head and wondering who would be coming in through the steel doors, Garith repressed a sigh of despair as he heard a familiar voice; the one that he had heard at the Halloween Dance several months before. This day is just getting better and better.
"I demand to know who is responsible for my fiancée's condition," declared the voice of none other than Jareth, King of the Goblins as he swept into the room. WHAT THE HELL? HOW DID HE GET HERE? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FRIGGEN' BARRIER BEING CLOSED? A man, slightly taller than Jareth himself, entered behind him. This man had dark black hair and brown eyes, with a sort of grace trademark of the elves, a dark elf in particular.
"Now, sir, we don't know for sure if this young man was actually involved. We do know, however, that he was the last person to see your fiancée before she collapsed into a coma. Her friend, Miss Williams, similarly disappeared at the same time."
Suddenly Garith felt very grateful for the fact that there was a table in between him and the pissed of Goblin King. Somehow he had the feeling that his vampiric powers would have a hard time healing him after the Goblin King got through with him.
"Have the doctors been able to discover anything?" asked the dark elf. He had an air of exhaustion around him, like he had just run for miles, though there was not a drop of sweat on him. "Any indication of what caused her to collapse besides the suspected involvement of this young man?"
"There are indications of exhaustion. She came to the hospital a few months ago after collapsing from exhaustion as well, only that time the doctors found an overdose of Aspirin and other painkillers in her system. . ."
"And what makes you think that it was caused by this man?" interrupted the dark elf.
"Both times Miss Knight collapsed it was while she was arguing with him. Don't you know him? He said he was a friend of the family."
"Of course we know him," smirked Jareth. "Mara, Garith and I all lived nearby each other growing up."
Oh God . . . I am sooo screwed it's not even funny.
"So you do know him? We weren't sure if you did or not," said the officer.
"Why don't you give Garith over to us? The three of us can all see my dear niece together," said the dark elf, looking meaningfully at Garith. "I'm sure things can't get any worse then they already have."
From across the table, Jareth coughed. Stuck with Jareth . . . I bet things could get a whole hell of a lot worse.
It had taken some convincing, but eventually Jareth and Rawthorn were able to convince police to let Garith go with them. Much as Jareth would've loved to let the little bugger rot in prison, he somehow doubted that the Garith would've had stayed there for long. As the three of them followed the doctor to the room where Mara was staying, Jareth gave a worried glance at Rawthorn. After leaving Sarah back in the Labyrinth, Jareth had gone to the Underground Council Magick Working Room to demand the barrier to be brought down, only to find to his surprise, none other than Mara's uncle Mage Rawthorn in the process of taking it down. Thankfully, taking down the barrier proved to be much simpler then putting it up, but it had left Rawthorn drained, and the effects were beginning to show.
On his other side strolled Garith. He looked no different then the last time Jareth had seen him as he flew around the college in owl form. Same arrogant stride, same egotistical attitude . . .
"Here's the room," said the doctor, opening the door. Inside, Tom and Andrew were sitting, talking in hushed voices. In the middle of the room lay Mara, pale and sickly looking. Jareth vaguely remembered saying a courteous 'thanks' before the doctor turned to leave.
"Garith, who are these guys?" asked Tom. "You better not be doing anything to Mara . . ."
"Don't worry," snapped Garith, as he pulled up a chair next to Mara's bed, much to Jareth's surprise. "I'm as much surprised to see them as you guys are. The blond fellow over there is Jareth" ("Her fiancé that Sarah really likes?") "And this man is . . . I'm sorry, who are you?" asked Garith.
"Rawthorn. I'm her uncle."
"Aren't you on the Official Underground Magick Team?" asked Garith. "That group who put the border up? Wonderful family Mara seems to have. They all seem to want to kill her."
"Oh, that's real harsh coming from you, Vamp," hissed Jareth. "Sarah told me that you knew about Mara's magic sapping away. Did you help the process along?"
Garith paused, looking angrily up at Jareth. "For your information, while I did know that Mara's magic would be sapped away because of iron, I did not realize that she was recklessly spending her magical reserves trying to keep Sarah here. By the time I figured it out, it was too late."
"And I bet you're just thrilled aren't you? Job all done, right, Vamp?"
"I'm not thrilled!" snapped Garith. "Yes, I realize that the last bit of magical reserves were zapped probably because of me, and damn it, I'm sorry. I didn't know! She's not exactly a sharing type of person with me. Most of the time she chucks pencils and books at my head."
"Can you blame her?"
Garith sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Did Sarah get back to the Labyrinth all right?" he asked, changing subjects quickly. "I assume she would've, after Mara passed out, but I wasn't sure.
"Yes, Miss Williams is there, safe and sound."
"That's quite the way to refer to someone who you theoretically have a lifebond to. Does Sarah call you Your Majesty? That's one hell of a relationship. I would have thought by now something would be going on between you two. At least make what Mara went through worth it."
"Why you twisted little. . ."
"Gentlemen," interrupted Rawthorn, intervening between the two men. "We don't have much time. I have been able to control the camera monitoring this room, but I can't for much longer. We need to bring Mara back to the Underground to see if we can somehow bring her out of this coma. We have to leave now before someone realizes that the barrier is down and I'm out here getting Mara. I can already see myself getting fired for this as it is now . . ."
"How are we going to do that?" asked Garith, standing up.
"We? There is no we in this, Vamp. Just me, Rawthorn and Mara."
"Actually, I believe the correct grammatical usage would be Rawthorn, Mara and me. And I'm coming with you. Mara is my responsibility, I need to stay near her. Plus I have magic to help boost the spell. No offence Mage Rawthorn, but you're looking a bit rundown."
"Of all the . . ."
"Jareth, perhaps we should bring him with us," said Rawthorn suddenly after studying Garith. "I believe he might be of some use."
Outside the door, the sound people running could be heard. Tom, getting up, walked over to the door and peeked through. "Um, guys? I think we're going to get company. There are a bunch of guys pushing their way through the security wearing really funny-looking clothing. And three of them have pointy ears."
"We I guess that settles it," said Garith. "I'm coming with you."
"I demand to see Mara K'Talven immediately!" came a voice from the hallway.
"Hurry, stand in a circle around her. Tom, Andrew, I suggest you sneak out now while you have a chance," said Rawthorn. "I don't think we'll be able to bring you with us, and I think it might get a little ugly after we leave."
"If that isn't the understatement of the century, I don't know what is," muttered Andrew. "Hope you can help Mara," he added before he and Tom slipped out.
"You better not be pulling any tricks, Garith," hissed Jareth getting into position.
"Believe me, I'm not. This time."
"Center your powers over Mara. We're going home," said Rawthorn. He held out his arms over Mara's sleeping body and began to mutter the words to the spell.
Jareth poured his energy into Rawthorn's spell, and felt with surprise that Garith did the same. If anything, Garith seemed to pour more power than Jareth almost recklessly into the spell. The area around them began to glow as the world began to fade into the familiar forms of the Labyrinth's throne room. Just before they transported completely, Jareth caught a glimpse of a group of immortals entering the hospital room before they disappeared.
After reality seemed to have stabilized, Mara, who was still laying on the hospital bed (they had brought it with them) gasped sharply as if she had just come up from swimming underwater for a long time without breathing. Immediately, Garith bent over her, and grabbed one of her hands.
"Mara, Mara? Are you all right?" he asked in what almost seemed like a worried voice.
He's a very good actor, mused Jareth.
Slowly, Mara opened her eyes. "Garith?" she whispered.
"Oh thank, God," murmured Garith, kissing Mara's hand lightly. Jareth's eyes narrowed as he watched.
"What are you doing here? Where is here? What have you done to me? I thought I told you to leave me alone . . ." asked Mara, still faint, looking at Garith with some confusion.
"You heard her, Vamp," snapped Jareth. "While I appreciate the fact that you helped us bring her back to the Labyrinth, I suggest you do as she says and leave her alone. I will provide a room for you if you so desire, as an expression of my gratitude, but I expect you to leave tomorrow."
Mara's eyes darted over to Jareth, noticing him for the first time. "Jareth?" She glanced towards Rawthorn. "Uncle? What the hell is going on?"
"I suggest you relax, niece," said Rawthorn.
"Am I in the Labyrinth? How'd I get here? I thought the barrier was up."
"If she doesn't watch herself, she might hurt herself," murmured Rawthorn.
"Mara, we'll explain it in the morning," promised Garith, who was still holding her hand. "For now, you must sleep. You've given us all quiet a scare."
"All of us?" asked Mara, irony somehow able to be expressed through her weakened voice. "Even you?"
Garith smiled, and whispered something. For a moment, Jareth could have sworn he said, "Especially me," but decided to write that off as a crazy notion.
"Now sleep," said Garith, holding a hand to Mara's forehead, and instantly she fell into a peaceful slumber.
"What the hell did you do?" demanded Jareth.
"Made her fall asleep, duh! She's weak right now, and knowing her, she'd expand her energy to much and do herself more harm than good if I didn't charm her to sleep."
Jareth rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I bet."
"If you two are finished your macho posturing, perhaps we should get my niece to her room. I assume she has one here? My brother tells me that she spends most of her time here rather than at home, she must have a room she stays in."
With a blink of an eye, Jareth transported them all to Mara's living quarters within the Labyrinth. Before Jareth could stop him, Garith had picked up Mara off the hospital bed and placed her on the regular bed, tucking her in.
"Should I maybe watch her? Make sure nothing happens to her?" asked Garith.
"No, I wouldn't trust you in a room alone with her," snapped Jareth, and instantly transported Garith to whatever guestroom the would best suit him until he left tomorrow. Looking over at Rawthorn, Jareth said, "You look tired. Perhaps you should retire yourself."
Rawthorn sighed. "Thank you, son. If you would just show me to a room?" Within a moment Jareth had also transported Rawthorn to a room. Taking one last look at Mara to make sure she was going to be all right, he returned back to the throne room. The Underground Council was going to be here as soon as the figured out about Mara's capture. Might as well as start practicing lies now.
Author's note
I deserve to be hung for taking so long, and I'm sorry.
Megs, I love you for betaing this. I know it's been close to six months, and I'm sorry.
SP777: Call the tampon thing the spawning of conversations in Algebra. And I'm glad you thought the whole cause and effect thing in chapter nine was clever.
Green Maiden Moitan: Actually Sarah did mention a second penguin song in her journal entry during chapter fourteen of a new song Elmo the Polka Dotted Penguin and the Bunny of Doom, to Britney Spear's song "Drive Me Crazy." Hope you liked this update
lilcutie: Thanks a lot!
Enchated Flower: Thanks, Sorry it took me so long. My life got really busy and I have barely had time to sleep, let alone write. My beta threatened me with death, however, so I did my best to get this chapter out.
Nyruserra: Sorry about the long wait, and I'm glad you liked the update. I'm so sorry that I didn't have this chapter done by December, let alone finished. Like I've said, life has been crazy.
Elladans-elleth: Thank you very much.
Aliana Baggins: I know I'm insane. I've been told that constantly. But I'm glad you liked it. Obi-wan Kenobi . . . I'M SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!
SomeoneElsesDream: I'm glad you like this, and what is wrong with being melodramatic, goodness knows I am. Makes life more interesting.
Mooniaya: I hoped you liked this chapter. Sorry for the long wait.
Zero-no-uta: Sorry for the long wait. bows back
normal? I know Borders rocks. I practically live there. Ok, so Mara was kinda out, so there was no M/G stuff . . and most of the J/S was yelling . . but there shall be more, I promise you!
Thuringwen: Thanks a lot. I hope you liked it. Germany? Wow . . .
Kelzilla: I'm glad you liked it. I'm sorry for the long wait.
janine: I pray you haven't lost hope after the God knows how many months I have been next to dead. A little under 7 months until the next Star Wars movie! (Going crazy . . . )
dreammoon: Wow, translating it into French? That sounds great! I mean, I'd do it myself, but my French is less than perfect. I can understand it when I read it (mostly) but unfortunately when it comes to writing it myself I have a hard time. So that would be really great. E-mail : I'm glad you liked last chapter. Yes, Mara and Garith would probably be great on Jerry Springer. I would feel bad for the therapist too. Too many flying objects . . .
b00kperson: I'm glad you liked last chapter. Life's been busy, so I haven't had much time, but I'm going to try and catch up on yours.
MysticalStar1: Sorry it wasn't quiet a.s.a.p, but I hoped you liked this chapter.
Shadow of the Storm: Yes, sorry about the cliffhanger. Please, I hope the four (or was it five) month wait hasn't caused you to fall off that cliff. Please, I'll try better next time (I've already started the next chapter!) I've seen some Buffy episodes, however unfortunately it was only in the last season that I sort of became hooked. Devastated that I didn't see more. The idea of Garith and Jareth journal entries sounds interesting . . . gives me something to think about.
draegon-fire: Sarah's plan I guess did work, though she probably doesn't realize that. And as for Garith not leaving her side, well, besides being taken away by the cops, then Jareth, he did do his best . . .
Danalas the Lady Chaos: Ha! "These are not the typos you're looking for," very funny. I love Star Wars (and right after loving it . . I love making fun of it!) Sugar. . .
BelloViolaRose: sorry it too so long. That was kinda a scary laugh . . please don't hurt me . . . I'll do better next time I swear!
LadyAniviel: Yes, Mara was in a comatose state, though she did wake up partly after being subjected to a magical environment . . . (though I could kill her off . . that way Jareth will automatically be out of the engagement . . . pity I didn't think of that before). Don't worry, I will make some sappy romantic moments for the whole J/S thing. I promise. (Though I love yelling scenes . . . and Sarah strikes me as the type of person to get defensive when upset, like Jareth)
Twin Kats: Yes Mara will be ok. Maybe Garith and Mara will get together after they stop it will the flying projectile thing. Hoped you liked this chapter.
Acantha Mardivey: I'm glad you liked last chapter. Sorry for the long wait, school is a crazy place.
The Dragon Sorceress: then suddenly, the magic button once again appears after 5 months, one can only wonder if the Dragon Sorceress will find out