"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 34
By Aiijuin
*Disclaimer: I don't own anything Jim Henson or Labyrinth. Gröeg was originally designed by Brian Froud and catalogued by Terry Jones in Brian Froud's "The Goblins of the Labyrinth". This fanfiction is rated M for some harsh language and adult situations. Gavin King is Jareth, the Goblin King, for those who have jumped into the middle of the story. Jeremy Eden is from the original Henson script of "Labyrinth" as the man who wrote the "Labyrinth" playbook that Sarah was reading from, in the beginning of the 1986 movie.
**NOTE: Story numbering is behind by 1 chapter, because there is a prelude, which is not considered a chapter. Fanfiction . net automatically assigns numbers to the chapters by default, which I have not control over. Thank you!
Chapter 34: While You Were Sleeping
Everything was black and quiet. Jareth had his eyes closed, contemplating Sarah's last words as they echoed in his head. However, his silence was disturbed by the voice of a familiar seventeen year-old boy.
Toby mocked, "Old people…Geez!"
Jareth opened his eyes to find that he had been sleeping on the park bench back at O'Connell's Captivating Carnival. He looked around rather disoriented. Sarah had her head under his chin and was slumbering serenely on his shoulder. His eyes took a moment to focus on everything, when Toby's voice chimed in again, "Sarah! Yo! Wakey, wakey!"
Sarah stirred with a soft groan, but didn't awaken. Jareth finally recognized his surroundings and immediately remembered that he was supposed to be Gavin King. He glanced at his attire and checked to see that everything was in place. When all seemed fine, he looked at Sarah and saw that she had been returned to her olive-green turtleneck sweater with complimenting khakis. The color had returned to her face, and she looked healthy without scratch or scuff.
Toby began to tap his foot impatiently. Sarah finally opened her eyes and looked up at her brother. She asked groggily, "Toby? What time is it? Did I fall asleep?"
Toby responded, "It's eight thirty-three, if you must know, and you were supposed to meet us back at the car one hour and thirty-three minutes ago! If you were that tired then you should have nodded off inside of the car instead of in the middle of this freak show!"
Sure enough, as Sarah and Gavin glanced around, they were in the center of The Mystical Traveling Oddities Show. Most of the carnival folk were busy talking to the police, who were writing reports. Sarah squinted, because her eyes still hadn't focused yet. The flashing lights of the squad car were making things harder for her to see.
Sarah mumbled, "Why are the police here?"
Toby waved his hand and then shrugged, "I dunno. One of the spectators had a baby or something. The ambulance carried her out of here. When Jess and I saw the squad cars fly by us about an hour ago, she and I finally decided to come back and search the entire park. Neither of us could find you or Mr. King anywhere. Little did we know that the two of you had fallen asleep like a couple of geezers on this park bench in the middle of nowhere."
After a brief pause, Toby frowned and continued, "Sarah! I thought something terrible had happened to you, because you guys were so late! Jessica's mom and dad are going to kill her if she doesn't get back by nine-thirty. That probably isn't going to happen anymore, so I hope Mr. King can say the magic words and keep her from getting grounded for all eternity!"
Magic, Jareth thought. He wondered who had the power between he and Sarah at this moment.
Sarah yawned and stretched. She said, "Ah, yes, the musings of a teenage life…."
Toby grabbed Sarah by the arm and tugged, "C'mon, Sarah! The car! Now!"
Jessica looked worried, and by every right she should have been with the situation that existed between Toby's parents and her own parents. Sarah was pulled to her feet by her brother. She raised her hands in the air and said, "You know, there ought to be dream police to stop baby brothers from wreaking perfectly wonderful dreams."
Gavin widened his eyes in disbelief, as he tried to imagine what could have been so 'perfectly wonderful' about the last sixteen or seventeen hours. Sarah obviously hadn't felt the same way that he had concerning the recent events in the Underground. In fact, Jareth had been so taken back by Sarah's words, that he grumbled outloud, "I'll bet it was just spectacular to pretend to be Goblin Queen and sit upon a stolen throne."
Sarah raised her eyebrows in amusement, and was about to speak, when Toby blurted out with a giggle, "Ho, SNAP! Somebody's suffering from Jareth-Envy!"
Sarah was about to reply, when Gavin pushed past her and jumped at Toby's face. He shouted, "I'm not suffering from anything of the sort, you Petulant Boy!"
Toby stepped back in shock at seeing his father's boss so furious. He had only meant the comment as a joke to annoy Sarah, and didn't think it would have the opposite effect. Sarah put her hand on Gavin's shoulder and said in a soothing voice, "Hey, Gavin. Toby was just joking. It's been a long day, and we're all tired. Let's just drop it and go home."
The four people walked back to the car. With Jessica holding his hand, Toby walked far behind Sarah and Gavin. Gavin had his hands shoved in his pockets and was brooding silently. Sarah was just smiling, but every now and then she let out a tiny chuckle. It only fueled Jareth's anger against her further.
His range of emotions had gone full swing in the last twenty-four hours or so. He didn't know if he felt exhausted or replenished. He didn't know who was holding the power of the Goblin Kingdom currently, but judging from Sarah's smug look, it seemed like she had 'all-of-the-cards stacked in her favor'. As if things couldn't have gotten any worse for Jareth at this moment, a downpour began without warning.
Soaked, Jareth contemplated silently.
He just shook his head as Toby, Jessica, and Sarah ran past him to get to the car. He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation and stood there getting rained on. Finally, after a few seconds, Sarah returned and grabbed Gavin by the hand. She shouted, "Gavin! Honestly! You're going to drown out here!"
By the time Sarah and Gavin reached the car, the two of them were dripping wet. Sarah started up the car and cranked the heater up on high. She was shivering so violently, that she was certain everyone could hear her teeth chattering. Toby scolded his sister from the backseat, "You know, Sar, next time you go back for someone, could you please unlock the car doors first, so the rest of us can take cover?"
Unfortunately, Robert Williams' BMW interior was covered in drenched people, mud, and grass. It smelled of damp car, and this wasn't very pleasant. Sarah was positive that her father would probably ground her, despite the fact that she was thirty-two years old.
It was over 150 miles back to Jessica's house, another ten to drop of Mr. King, and then another three to drive back to the Williams household. Sarah sighed.
This is going to be a long ride home, she thought as she glanced over at Gavin and noted that he was still frowning with his arms crossed tightly across his chest.
The weather alternated between scattered rain showers and dangerous downpours as Sarah drove. Gavin fell back to sleep towards the beginning of the ride home, while Toby and Jessica followed shortly after. Sarah's feet ached, and she was exhausted and cold. She wasn't sure about what had become of her adventure through the Troll Kingdom, or if it had ever really occurred. She could only recall her recent dream that she had before Toby woke her on the park bench.
Sarah closed her eyes and sighed, "Jareth. Oh, how I wish I could return to him again like in that dream. If it would only happen right now."
Sure enough, it was the shortest ride home for everyone inside the BMW! All within were returned to their appropriate locations and the car reappeared back into Robert Williams' two-car garage completely dry and clean. Sarah Williams vanished out of sight and nobody even realized it had happened, not even Jareth who was masquerading around as Gavin.