Disclaimer: I own nothing. Again credit for the general ideas of Ella's dreams goes to Charles at yahoo answers.
Author's note: Getting updates for this story coming in much faster now thanks to my reviewers. I hope you will all continue to let me know what you think. Even the smallest comments can help me make this story even better.
Ch 9. Broken Dreams
Ezmerilda and Malachai rushed to Ella's room, "Are we too late," the sister asked.
Toby looked up with relief, "You made it with three hours to spare."
Malachai nodded and motioned to the servant that had followed them in, "Get everything set up. Jareth won't want to leave his daughter's side. This bed isn't big enough. We need to get them to the royal suite."
Suddenly the room was full of motion. Ella was moved onto a gurney, her Father still clinging to her hand. An iv was attached to her arm, injecting various liquids from several hanging bags.
Ezmerilda placed a hand on Jareth's shoulder, "It's okay Jareth. She's getting the medicine. You can let go now."
Jareth released the child's hand and allowed himself to be helped into a wheel chair. On the way to his room, for the first time since Ella fell ill, he let himself fall into a deep enough sleep to dream. Sarah smiled and, finally able to enter his mind, slipped into her husband's dreams.
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Jareth wandered the island that represented his inner magic. The sand once soft now clumped together like clay. The water was still and looked more like mud than a glistening ocean. The volcano, once highly active, was now dormant. The air itself was too heavy and felt too thick in his lungs. It saddened him to see what the recent tragedies in his life were doing to him. His sorceral realm was all but dead with the combination of his pain from losing Sarah and all the trouble he had to go through in helping keep Ella alive.
"Don't be sad Jareth," he heard her behind him and turned to face her.
"Why shouldn't I be? I failed to protect you and now I'm failing to protect Ella," he said sadly.
Sarah shook her head, "No, you couldn't have saved me. Anything you could have done would have stopped Ella from being born and you have saved her. Your siblings and my brother are doing all they can for her. You kept her alive this long and that's enough for the medicine to work."
"You may be right but still, I can't do this alone," he hated admitting weakness but he had never felt more helpless than he did now.
She approached him and gave him a hug, "You're not alone. You have Toby and your siblings and you still have me."
He hugged back, "What if I screw up. Raising a child is very different than babysitting for thirteen hours."
She pulled back to look him in the eye, "Nobody is perfect. I have no doubt that you will make mistakes but there is no way you could do worse for her than my Father and step-Mother have unless you actually try to."
"I don't ever want her to resent me," a tear slid down his cheek.
"She won't. I'll help you. I can enter your dreams and I can enter hers and I'm always watching. If there's ever a problem I'll try to help you work it out," she assured him.
He sighed, "How do parents do this Sarah?"
She smiled, "Just take it one day at a time. For a healthy relationship of any kind there should be at least five positive interactions for every negative one."
He thought for a moment, "That leaves a lot of grey area. What if she's upset and I'm comforting her?"
Sarah laughed, "That's a positive interaction. You're showing her that you care when you do that. The situation doesn't decide if the interaction is positive or negative. It's how you and Ella choose to treat each other."
"And if I ever have to punish her? How do we work that out," he hated the idea but knew it was highly possible.
She put her arm around his waist to make him walk with her, "I'll make sure she knows that you only punish her because you love her and want her to learn from her mistakes and I'll let you know if I think you're overdoing it a bit."
"That would probably be every time if Ezmerilda's observations of me mean anything," he looked away not wanting to admit that he was indeed too harsh most of the time.
She rethought her strategy, "Then send her to her room for a nap and you take one too. I'll discuss the situation with each of you and you and I will decide her punishment together."
"You think that'll work," he asked hopefully.
She gave a sigh of amusement, "Well, at the very least it will give you time to settle your temper and think responsibly about how best to use punishment to teach her instead of hurt her. Trust in me. Trust in this. Trust in us."
He thought about that and smiled, "That sounds good. This way we can raise her together. I just feel bad that we'll have to talk in this horrid environment."
"Your not in the best health. This place reflects that. As you get better so will this island," she kissed his cheek.
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Ella hovered in the sky, a broom beneath her. The clouds around her grew dark as she looked down on the town of her birth, the home of her tormenters. Lightening flashed all around her and struck the buildings below. She smiled to herself as each place that was struck caught fire. Screams filled the air as those that had hurt her tried to escape the flames.
Panic set in as she realized she was losing control. The lightening began to act on it's own. She tried to fly away from the storm but there was lightening everywhere. Just as she realized she was trapped a flash of light filled her vision. Agony burst through her eyes and her head as she plummeted towards the ground.
After falling for what seemed to the nine year old like hours she landed rather abruptly in water. Suddenly able to see again she found she was in the ocean near her beach. She swam back to shore and laid on the sand. Thinking about what just happened she started crying. She knew it was just a dream but did she really have the potential to be that wicked? The idea scared her. She did hate those people for hurting her but she didn't want to kill them. Well, maybe her grandmother but not the other children. There was a difference between being a bully and being a…well, Ella knew there was a word for women with nasty personalities like Grandma Irene but she didn't know what it was although she did know that she certainly wasn't allowed to say it if she ever did learn it.
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Jareth paused their walking and looked at Sarah, "I may be weak darling but I can still control my own dreams," as he spoke the island faded to darkness and as light returned she found them in the enchanted ballroom.
"Jareth, this is my dream," she pointed out looking down at the gown she'd worn that night.
He nodded, "Indeed but ever since I had Hoggle give you that peach any dreams you had in the labyrinth could become my dreams as well if I let them."
Her eyes widened as the pieces clicked together in her head one by one, "I wasn't imagining it. You were really there."
He took her hand and pulled her to him, "Yes Sarah. I was there."
She let him pull her around the empty dance floor, "Why did you make it so hard to get to you?"
The corner of his mouth twitched in the echo of a smile, "I was nervous. I knew that if we danced in the faerie ring you'd unknowingly dreamt up as I sang the song of the goblin city royal family I'd be admitting that you had a chance to win."
She nodded in slightly confused understanding, "Once I won you fell in love with me. Your magic wouldn't let you love anyone else."
He kissed her forehead, "Yes that's how it works. For me at least. I'm not sure about Ella. She's half human after all."
Her eyebrows furrowed, "Isn't falling in love a good thing? Why would you be nervous about that?"
He sighed, "I'd learned plenty about your stubbornness and what you thought about me on your way through the labyrinth. I knew you'd reject me."
She looked at the sadness in his eyes and for the first time she realized the effect her words had had on him that night, "I broke your heart."
He nodded, "You weren't ready but I had to try. In the end you made the best decision for me and the kingdom but I wonder if it was the best decision for you."
She laid her head on his chest, "The only friends I ever had I met in your labyrinth that day and I love you and Ella so what's best for you and her and the kingdom is what's best for me too."
He stopped dancing and stroked her cheek with one gloved hand, "Does she even know she's in a coma?"
Sarah nodded, "I should probably let her know that the two of you are going to be okay."
Now he did smile, "Yes, go. Make sure she knows how much we love her."
Again she nodded, "I will," she stood on her tiptoes so she could kiss him, "I love you. Keep protecting her. Regardless of her past pain she's still innocent."
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Ella sat by the water hugging her knees. Tears streamed down her face. She was scared. At this point she just wanted to wake up. She knew that if she left this place while she was still asleep she might have another nightmare and she still couldn't control that either.
Sarah appeared nearby and rushed with deep concern to her sobbing child's side, "Ella, baby what's the matter? Did I upset you that much before?"
She shook her head, "No Mommy, I just had a nightmare."
The woman hugged Ella and kissed her head gently, "Well I'm sorry to hear that. Why don't you tell me about it? Sometimes people feel better after they talk about things."
The princess nodded and told her Mother everything from her nightmare. When she was done she buried her face in her Mother's hair and continued crying. Sarah rubbed comforting circles on her daughter's back and resisted the urge to emit shushing noises. When a person needed to cry they needed to cry. If they were raised to feel like it wasn't okay to cry they'd always be stressed.
Instead she kept repeating, "It's alright honey. Let it out. You're scared but you're safe now. You can cry."
After a while Ella finally settled down. She would have fallen asleep in her Mother's arms if that were possible but of course it wasn't since she was already asleep. She still felt exhausted though. From the nightmare, the crying, being sick, the sudden changes in her life, and the haunting memories she was exhausted.
Sarah saw her opportunity to speak and hoped it would cheer her little girl up, "I have some good news for you. You and your Father are going to be okay."
The child pulled back to look at her Mother, "Are you sure," she sniffled and wiped at her eyes.
"Yes," Sarah nodded, "Your Father's brother brought medicine that you don't have to be awake to take. Your Daddy doesn't have to use up his life energy to maintain your life anymore."
The girl smiled, "So what do we do now?"
Sarah smiled, glad that her baby was no longer upset, and gave Ella a gentle squeeze, "Now we wait. Your aunts and uncles will take care of you and Daddy and eventually when your body feels a bit better you'll wake up."
TBC…
Author's note: What did you all think? Does anyone have questions? I like answering questions. :D