"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 47
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.
Be warned! Although this is a Sarah/Jareth romance story, it is also a profoundly dark fairytale!
**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 47: Shattered Dreams
"Will there be anything else then, Lady Sarah?" Jeremy asked unenthusiastically.
"No, Jareth, that will be all, Dearest," Lady Sarah replied.
"It's 'Jeremy' for the one thousandth eight hundred AND twelfth time," Jeremy returned angrily.
"Are you still counting? After all these years?" She asked in amusement.
Sir Eden walked out of the room muttering. He hadn't tracked how much time had passed anymore. Everyday was a burden on him as Sarah toyed with him and played games with him. There had been many men that had passed through the walls of her Labyrinth, but he had become the longest resident of whom she was not willing to part. A man knelt on the floor submissively as she rested her feet upon him like a footstool. Another man stood by her study door, holding it open for Jeremy.
Lady Sarah called out before Sir Eden left the room, "Oh, yes! One more request, Jareth…"
One thousand eight hundred thirteen, thought Jeremy.
Sarah chuckled and corrected, "I mean, Jeremy… Do tend to that new soldier that was brought in the other day. We can't have him screaming throughout the night again, now can we?"
That's it! Fumed Jeremy, as he had finally reached his limit of atrocities.
He spun about and marched up to The Marchioness Lady Sarah Alvery d'Bourgeise and yanked the man out from under her feet. He dragged him to the door of the study and tossed him out. Then after that, he took the man who was holding the study room door ajar and pushed him out into the hall.
Sir Eden stammered, "LEAVE!" and then slammed the door shut behind him. Lady Sarah and he were now alone in the room.
Sarah smirked and asked, "Is something bothering you, Love?"
"I've tried to reason with you," Jeremy began. "I've tried to plead with you… I've even tried to bargain with you, but nothing ever changes, does it?
Sarah just continued to smile quietly and drummed her long, sharp fingernails on the chair's armrest. Jeremy continued, "You were a rotten, spoiled fifteen year-old girl, when you abducted me…but its been…what…. Ten years? Fifteen years? You still haven't changed! I thought time would bring you clarity and maturity, but it hasn't! I thought the death of your father, the Marchion, would shock you into reality, but it didn't! I thought the whispers and laughter of the mocking Duchesses and Baronesses would embarrass some sense into you, but you laughed back at them… Sarah! WAKE UP! You're living in a dream world!"
Sarah drew very close to Sir Eden and began to run her hands up and down his body hungrily. He turned his head to ignore her. She pouted and whined, "But of course I can make you do whatever I want, Darling."
"I'm leaving!" Jeremy shouted and stepped back from her.
"You can't go, Jareth. Nobody leaves my Labyrinth," Sarah giggled.
"MY NAME ISN'T JARETH! AND I'LL GO WHEN I PLEASE! YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!" Jeremy finished.
Sarah backed up and paused momentarily before saying another word. Her voice immediately changed from its youthful, adolescent tone to a become a deeper and more mature sounding one. She said calmly, "Good. I was wondering how long it would take you to finally say those words to me, Sir Jeremy."
At that Sarah walked to the door and opened it. The two men that Jeremy threw from the room cowered on the floor of the hallway. She clapped her hands and they vanished.
Jeremy blinked and turned to her in doubt.
She laughed again, but softly this time and answered the question in his eyes, "….it's just an illusion….nothing more…"
"'An illusion'," Sir Eden whispered. "You mean this entire thing is just a farce? The last ten or fifteen years never really happened?"
"Fifteen years have indeed passed," Sarah replied calmly.
"…But this whole thing -- the slavery, the barbarism, the sadistic occurrences, and screaming prisoners -- is nothing more than a fabricated charade?"
"Yes," Lady d'Bourgeise confirmed his inquiry.
Jeremy backed away from Sarah in horror. "What kind of monster are you?" He asked with a glint of terror on his face.
"I'm not a monster, Sir Jeremy. As I've told you before many years ago, I'm a queen," Sarah corrected.
Eden felt his head spin and Sarah ushered him into a seat before he collapsed. He asked feeling lightheaded, "Is nothing real then?"
Sarah placed her hand on his forehead and checked him for a fevered brow. She grabbed a cold cloth from the tea table nearby and patted it gently against his face. She began, "I am real, as is the Labyrinth and the château. The masquerades were real, with real attendees, but my man-slaves and captured soldiers….Well, I'm afraid to say that you and I are truly the only permanent inhabitants of this Estate, Sir Jeremy. I created all of these things for you."
"Why?" He asked.
"To test you, of course," Lady Sarah answered.
"For what?" He wondered.
"For reality, my Dear," Sarah finished. Before Jeremy could ask another question, Sarah continued, "I wanted to see how you would handle certain dangerous scenarios and trying tribulations. I needed to observe if you could govern this Estate while I was away. I had to know if you would hold the responsibilities that come with your great honorific title. A pretty face is wonderful to behold, but without the will, intellect, and wisdom to back it up, then its worthless to me I'm afraid."
"I'm sorry," Sir Eden interrupted, "but I don't follow what you're getting at."
"I'm dying, Sir Jeremy and I need to know if you'll be able to run this Labyrinth when I have at last gone," Sarah said abruptly.
Jeremy grasped Lady Sarah by the hand. She nodded and said, "I've been dying slowly since I was born."
Jeremy let her go and muttered, "We all begin to die since the day we are born, and it's only a matter of time. That's life."
"No, you don't understand," Sarah continued, "I'll be dead in less than three years from now. I'm nearly thirty-one, Sir Jeremy, and there is still no sign of my Goblin King. I fear he shall never find me and take me away from this horrible place."
"'Goblin King'?" Sir Eden blinked, thinking Sarah had truly lost her mind.
"Yes," Sarah answered. "My husband is the King of the Goblins. His name is Jareth and we reigned together in our kingdom within the Underground long ago. Of course, that was before the Great War."
Jeremy said nothing, but the look on his face asked a million questions all at once.
'The Great War'? He pondered to himself.
Sarah noted the his grimace and asked rhetorically, "Your country of England, is a Protestant nation, is it not?"
Sir Eden nodded slowly, wondering what the religious beliefs of his country had to do with this conversation. Sarah continued, "Then you are familiar with the theological texts that have been written by the humans, correct?"
He nodded again and Sarah finished, "Then I suggest that you consider the story of the great angel that was thrust from his heavenly realm as he rebelled against his King in the Lands Beyond. The story was true, Sir Jeremy. And you may ask what this has to do with the immortal realm of the Underground….I will tell you…"
Eden remained silent as Sarah took a deep breath, "They say that when the fallen angelic creature landed upon the earth, a cataclysm occurred of immense proportions. The realms of both the mortal and immortal were fractured at the speed of sound. Despair and doubt began to flood into both lands, while death and pestilence was spread in all directions."
Sarah sighed lightly and resumed, "At the time that the great angel had made his landfall, I was in the Goblin Kingdom on the outer walls of the Labyrinth of my husband's castle. I was tending the gardens outside, when I heard the most horrible sound ever. It sounded like the sky was falling. I looked up to see something that I pray you will never have to witness in your lifetime…. It was a shockwave heading straight towards the Goblin Kingdom and its diameter could not be measured. As the annihilation approached us like a tsunami, the lands before it were torn asunder and broken into tiny pieces. I turned to call Jareth's name, however, I knew that it was too late. A split-second later, the land had collapsed from under my feet and everything sunk kilometers into the ground. The Goblin Kingdom and my brother-in-law, the Troll King's lands were now separated by a great ravine. The last thing that I recall was my surroundings were shattering like glass around me. I lost consciousness and awoke somewhere unfamiliar."
Lady Sarah became silent and paused for a moment as she closed her eyes and touched her lips in recollection of her Goblin King. Sir Jeremy didn't quite know what to make of her story. Sarah had tricked him so many times over the last fifteen years that he wasn't sure if she was fooling him again, or was actually telling the truth.
Giving her the benefit of the doubt, he asked her, "So, why are you dying and why at the specific age of thirty-three?"
"Apparently, I had slipped through a rift that had formed between the mortal and immortal realm from the shockwave. At first, I didn't realize the extent of the damage that had befallen my person. I felt tired and exhausted, but nonetheless, I continued onward and began to search for Jareth immediately. However after thirty-three days had passed and I could not find my beloved, my power began to accelerate towards uncontrollable levels. Things were happening to my body that should not have, and I realized that I had lost control over my abilities completely. Thirteen days later, my own power consumed me, and left me for dead. As I began to sink into eternal sleep, I realized that I had become a mortal… I had become a human."
Jeremy swallowed because his throat was dry and hoarse. He sat up in the chair and said, "But you survived… You're here aren't you?"
"No, Sir Jeremy," Sarah chided. "I died as a mortal, but my soul is still immortal, so after I die, I just get reintroduced back into the flow of humanity over and over as the same person. Each time I am reborn looking the same, and I am always 'Sarah', although my last names and ethnicities vary from lifetime to lifetime. However, my handicap is this… I lose all of my memories and most of my power remains inert until thirteen days before my thirty-third birthday."
Jeremy Eden stood up and stomped his foot in agitation, "Of course, you have a perfect memory of all these things right now and your powers seem to be intact… I was willing to believe you, until you added that last fact… Now, I know that you're lying to me and trying to play me for a fool again!"
"This lifetime is the exception, of course…," Sarah blinked.
"Why! Oh, I can't wait to hear this one…" Sir Jeremy laughed in disbelief.
Sarah only lowered her head and glanced out the window from the sides of her eyes, "I do not know what has become of Jareth, but I wish I could bring him to me, somehow… there must be a way…"