"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 58
By Aiijuin

*Disclaimer =Labyrinth (c) Henson, Lucas, Jones, Froud; Gröeg (c) Brian Froud, Winkin', Blinkin' & Nod (c) Mothergoose Nursery Rhymes. Torok is from 1986 movie Troll, but has been changed around to meet my story expectations.
Be warned: Although this is a Sarah/Jareth romance story, it is also a profoundly dark fairytale!
Rated M+(Adult Scenarios, Abrasive Language, Innuendos, Sensuality)
**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 58: Total Eclipse of the Heart

"Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart" ~ Bonnie Tyler

Sarah and Arther arrived at the Winter's Solstice Party dressed in elaborate costumes. Actually, Sarah had only planned on dressing as a pumpkin, so her baby bump didn't show, but Arther said that he was dressing as Prince Charming, so they would look more appropriately matched if she came as Cinderella. Sarah dreaded dressing as a princess, but she did a pretty good job of pulling off not looking like she was six months pregnant.

She wore a snow-white gown with an empire waistline. Her short sleeves were puffed, but hung low off of her shoulders. Sarah's gown was embroidered with intricate silver leaves and roses and she wore a pair of low-heeled clear plastic shoes that resembled glass. She had a beautiful rhinestone necklace that had fake pearls hanging from the tassels of the design. Sarah wore a tiara of silver laurel leaves upon her head.

Sarah noticed that there was a sweltering crowd of people at the party, as Arther had to wait in line in order to check the coats. Gavin King was already inside the function and dressed like a king, of course. Arther had told Sarah that Mr. King always came dressed as a king each year to his costume functions, or at least that's what he had heard from Robert Williams. Sarah looked at Gavin and noticed that he was talking to her brother and Jessica, whom he seemed to have invited despite his rules against bringing underage youths.

She still couldn't believe that he would have invited Toby, but forgotten her. However, Arther had discovered the reason that Gavin didn't invite her, was because he was concerned about her health. King wasn't thrilled when Arther told him that he had invited Sarah to be his 'date'.

The music was loud and the band seemed a bit out of place for a black tie function. They were a gothic rock band, all dressed in black, and had multiple body piercings with crazy haircolor. Toby was enjoying the music, although the rest of the older adults seemed a bit lost on its style.

No matter! The singer's voice was beautiful and hallowing, as she sounded akin to a cross between a mezzo-soprano at the opera and a blues crooner. Sarah didn't believe it was reasonable dancing music however…as the other guests must have agreed, because the dance floor was nearly empty except for Toby and Jessica waltzing across the floor every now and then.

Other than that, the entire room was amazing! It was cascaded by crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceiling and white marble floors, and a carpeted eating area off to the side. Each guest was assigned their own seat around one of the many round tables, while Gavin always sat in the king's chair at the head of the room. It wasn't really a throne like a king's, but was actually a podium that sat above the other tables on a platform and was equipped with a microphone so that he could make his speech to the group later as he always did.

At the time, people were walking across the floor and serving hors d'oeuvres and champagne. Sarah passed on the liquor because of her pregnancy, but she was happy to sample most of the unusual foods. Toby and Jessica took their seats near Sarah and Arther. Jessica, like Toby, had also looked unamused at the presence of Arther J. Crowe, Jr. Karen and Robert Williams had finally finished talking to the other guests and sat down around the table near Sarah and Arther with wide smiles upon their faces.

Toby peered up towards Gavin on the podium, and as anticipated he was watching Sarah intensively. He looked tired, despite his rouse to make people think he was in a jolly mood. Toby fretted that Jareth hadn't found anything to help his sister yet, and was probably losing his motive to, especially after Sarah's continuing fraternization with Mr. Crowe. Toby looked to the ground in frustration. Sarah's birthday was only two weeks away.

"SHIT!" Toby blurted out suddenly.

Luckily his parents didn't hear him over the music, but Sarah and Art glanced over in curiosity. Toby stammered at his sister, "You're birthday is only fourteen days away!"

Sarah chuckled, "Yeah, and it's a good thing that you remembered before it was only two days away."

Arther nodded and reassured the teen, "There's still plenty of time to buy your sister a gift, Toby."

Toby made a face at Arther and continued speaking to Sarah, "That means tomorrow your birthday will only be thirteen days away!"

Sarah rolled her eyes and smirked, "Yes, and then after that, it will only be twelve days away and so on and so forth..."

Toby rubbed his temples as he recalled the Isle of Time and what Jeremy Eden had said about the Goblin Queen's reawakening. He stood up and ran over to Mr. King on the podium. Sarah just shrugged at Art and gestured that she didn't know what was bothering her brother.

The evening had continued, and Sarah remained seated throughout most of the function. As Ten o'clock rolled around, she was getting very sleepy. It didn't help that she had overeaten with all of the appetizers, the soup, the salad, and the main course. By the time Sarah had gotten to dessert, she had massive indigestion. Now, she knew how Raquel had felt back in Grimm's Wood.

Gavin had made his traditional speech two hours ago and then danced with various female guests at his party. He even waltzed with Karen twice, because she insisted. Arther seemed content to remain at Sarah's side protectively throughout the evening, even though she insisted that he find a partner and dance. Unfortunately, Arther was too introverted to approach anyone.

Suddenly, the band changed the style of their music, and began to play a request from one of the partygoers. It was Sarah's favorite song from her teenage years. The flaxen-haired, female lead vocalist, with the odd blue streaks in her jagged cut hair began to sing in her haunting voice, "Turn around. Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never coming around…"

Arther's face lit up, "Ooh, I love this song!"

"Me too," Sarah smiled.

"Would you care to dance, Milady?" Arther said jokingly, not thinking that Sarah would actually say 'yes'. Much to his surprise she accepted.

Together they arose to the center of the dance floor and several other couples joined them. Sarah placed her arms around Arther's neck, and they did the atypical 'high-school' sway together.

Toby was holding Jessica's hand as he said, "Oh, crap!"

Arther twirled Sarah around as the music began to take hold of him and his inhibitions began to fade. He blocked out the rest of the crowd, but Sarah looked through the group hoping that maybe Jareth was dancing on the floor somewhere. She caught a glimpse of the lead singer, who had caught the attention of Arther momentarily. The attractive blond winked at him as she began the next verse of the song.

Sarah raised her eyebrows and said, "Watch out! I think that the lead vocalist may have a crush on you…"

"No. Um," he laughed in embarrassment. "Actually, she's my sister…."

Sarah giggled briefly and then cleared her throat, "Oh, wow! I'm sorry!"

Arther smirked, "I suppose that you would never have ever guessed that, hmm?"

"Not in a million years, Art. You two look very different, but then so do Toby and I."

Arthur nodded back to the singer, while he continued to sway Sarah in his arms, "Yes, well, she's extremely rambunctious and outgoing… you know, she sings in a band and adds blue streaks to her hair like some sort of punk… but I'm the general, conservative, boring lackey who frets about which suit goes with which tie each morning and whether or not I should order the espresso or the cappuccino with my salad everyday."

Sarah tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it. She replied, "I'm sorry, but I'm a former conservative, stereotypical office worker myself, so I can completely relate. You're a great dancer, though!"

"This? Oh, no, you're being too polite, Sarah. I'm usually tripping over my feet most of the time when confronted with music."

After a brief pause Arther dipped Sarah backwards and then said, "How much do you want to bet that I'll be the talk of the office come morning? Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to lose sleep tonight over the realization that I'm going to be mocked for the next few months at the employee water cooler and become the topic of conversations after I've long left and moved on to another firm someday, that is, unless I'm fired first."

Sarah stretched her neck upwards until her chin was raised towards the ceiling. Her eyes meditated on the chandeliers that glittered overhead and their twinkling lights. Arther raised her back up and she pulled near to him with both of her arms hugging about his neck gently.

The band was currently on the powerful chorus of the song, which always made Sarah feel alive inside. She and Crowe were nearly a breath away as Sarah whispered into his ear, "Thank you, Arther, for being a such good friend. I haven't had much of anyone to speak to lately with everything. Talking to my family is entirely different than talking to a friend…Not to sound spoiled or anything… but… I've been feeling a bit neglected and alone. I guess I sound like a broken record, don't I?"

"Not at all," the paralegal smiled. "I know that isolation is very terrifying and I can completely relate to you. There was a time when I was confined to a very small area, and I felt like I would never escape, or hear another voice again, or even feel the touch of another person… My god, it was such a horrible feeling!"

The band rose to it's climax of the song. In fact, the entire moment seemed to crescendo with the music as Sarah closed in and kissed Arther softly on the cheek. After turning several shades of red, he gently rested his head endearingly on her shoulder for a moment while the music continued on its final stanza.

Far off in the distance, Gavin watched with dangerously jealous mismatched eyes, and then vanished from the crowd.

Nobody noticed his leave-taking, since they were distracted with the music from the band, and the festival around them.