Wow.. I got all of two reviews last time... For the sake of my fragile soul, I'm going to blame FanFic-dot-net's sketchy alert system but let me just say, my ego is tremendously downsized right about now. Sad, sad, sad...
Chapter 7
Sarah watched the short, squat goblin as he turned down the hall, making a look of disgust as she ran headlong into a cluster of cobwebs and immediately began pulling at her face, neck and hair in attempts to removing all remnants of the nasty, sticky substance. The goblin was the first true one she'd seen since she arrived. The castle was now mostly run and populated by Changelings and other Goblin-hybrid creatures more pleasing to the eye because, apparently, Jareth had banned the more grotesque lot to the darker jobs of guards and wardens.
The dungeons were surprisingly empty, though they made Jareth's Tower Room hall look like a theme park attraction. Every inch of the place was covered in dirt and webs, creeping, crawling spiders and creatures that Sarah didn't know the names of. The air was stagnant and dusty despite the small open windows in each lonely cell and Sarah choked on every breath she took, surprising herself in the longing desire to return to her servant's quarters just to get out of the horrible environment.
But she couldn't. Somewhere in this hellish place was one of her best friends and she couldn't help but feel that she had a part in forcing him here. She'd asked for Hoggle because, as far as she knew, he was the only one of her friends that Jareth knew by name.
Also, he was the one she'd promised her friendship too, and he was the one she disappointed.
"Y'know this dungeon is the only place in the whole castle left over after the Great Fall," the goblin said with an air of pride, its high-pitched and warbling voice shocking Sarah out of her reverie. "It's 'cuz it was undergroun', and ya can't make somethin' fall further undergroun', now can ya?"
"Um… no?" Sarah said.
"That's right, no… Y'know, I've been workin' as the Head Warden here fer… oh, decades. Many decades. I was one o' the first goblins Jareth hired and I guess he liked me so much he decided ta keep me even after 'ee fired all tha rest."
Sarah actually thought the only reason why the goblin still had its job was because no one knew he was down here, or even who he was, but she refrained from saying this aloud and simply replied with a cautious "That's… nice?"
"You bet it is, missy."
The conversation died off as a result of Sarah's lack of enthusiasm and she just took to looking around before, finally, the goblin guard stopped in front of a cell that looked depressingly just like all the others – miserable and sullen and bare… save for a single figure huddled in the farthest corner.
"Hoggle?" Sarah said tentatively. The figure stirred as locks clicked and the gate swung open with a loud, grating squeal of disused hinges.
The guard stepped aside and Sarah, in her servant's clothes and five years older than the last time they'd seen each other, moved toward her old friend.
"S… Sarah?" Hoggle's distinctive voice sounded a bit harsher than normal and Sarah supposed it was from lack of use. The cell gate slammed closed and the guard waddled back down the hall.
"If'n ya need anythin', jus give a yell," the goblin guard said from behind Sarah, his tiny form already moving down the hall.
Sarah was left to face Hoggle. She didn't know what to say – how could anything she said take back all those horrible things she did? She didn't mean to do them – not really – but they were done, and her friend had paid the price. What could she possibly do to make everything better?
"Hi, Hoggle," she started. "I… uh… I'm…"
"Yer not real."
"What?"
"Jus' a figment o' me imagination, you are."
Sarah blinked and shook her head, not understanding. "Hoggle, what are you talking about? Of course I'm real. I'm right here, see?"
She reached out gingerly and prodded the shadowed figure in the corner, and Hoggle immediately sprang to life, finally moving into the moonlight filtering through the tiny, barred window so that Sarah could see him.
He hadn't changed a bit, save for the clothing he wore and a little less weight on his form. He wore threadbare muslin-type material similar to what Jareth had originally put Sarah in, and she wondered if he hadn't initially planned for her to be a prisoner rather than a servant.
"Sarah!" Hoggle nearly shouted, making Sarah jump back in surprise. "It's really you, is it? I was thinkin' I dreamed it all – all of it, the goblin battle an' everythin', but o'course that couldn't be 'coz I'm in this here cell an' the city's all but destroyed completely. Jareth'd thrown me in 'ere when you left an' I been 'ere ever since."
Sarah wiped her eyes, hiding it under the guise of too much dust in the air even though she knew Hoggle probably couldn't see her either way. Five years in a prison cell because she'd had the idea to reject the Goblin King. Five years, her friend had spent in this horrible place. Guilty by association with the Girl.
"Well," Sarah said with half-hearted cheerfulness, "at least it's not the Bog of Eternal Stench, right? You were so afraid of that one, remember?"
Sarah could see Hoggle nod soberly, "The Bog was destroyed when the kingdom fell. Jareth didn' wanna bring back 'the old ways', he said. He said that those threats didn' do much help… I s'pose I had somethin' to do with that… I kept helpin' you even though he threatened me with the Bog ev'ry which way."
Sarah tilted her head, looking at Hoggle's silhouette carefully. "You're using 'I' a lot more than usual, Hoggle…"
"What?"
"Everything you said back then was 'Hoggle' this or that, and you're using 'I' more… Why?"
"I s'pose I jus' got tired o' the old way. S'pose I needed a change." He shuffled slightly before moving on. "An' what about you? What're you here for – thought you won an' all that?"
Sarah let out a sigh and awkwardly looked to the floor. You won, he'd said. She knew he really didn't mean anything by the wording, but Sarah felt like it was an accusation. If she'd been smarter about all this, if she hadn't been so thoughtless and selfish, he would've said we won.
"Jareth… brought me back… As a servant," she replied meekly.
Hoggle just sort of shrugged at this. "Well, 's better'n what I'd expected of 'im. Oh, he was angry – an' not for no reason, neither."
"What do you mean? What happened after I left?"
"No one's told ya? Oh, well, 'spect not. No one really like to talk 'bout it. The Great Fall, they call it," his form shifted and Sarah could see the moonlight reflecting off eyes glazed with remembrance as Hoggle's mind shifted back to five years previous.
"The whole place fell apart, y'know. The castle collapsed'n the labyrinth folded in on isself. The city was alright – well, the folks in it were, anyway – but anythin' Jareth'd made 'imself was rubble. The city was safe 'coz the people'd made it, not Jareth… Not that it was much help, considerin' we'd jus' torn through half of ev'rythin' tryin' to get to Toby… But the people were safe, and none of the City-dwellers died… but the ruin. The guards say they're still rebuildin' an' – Sarah? Wha's wrong?"
Sarah sniffed loudly and tried to choke back a sob but failed. Hoggle moved beside her as she slowly moved to the floor, leaning against the grungy stone wall of the cell and Hoggle put a comforting arm over her shoulder.
"Oh, Hoggle," she said miserably. "Hoggle, it's all my fault. I'm so stupid, Hoggle. I didn't even think, I didn't think about it. I didn't think about any of it – just, I wanted to get Toby back and I wanted to go back and live a regular life, I wanted to just be a regular teenager. I thought that was the point. I really thought that was the point."
Hoggle gingerly patted her shoulder and Sarah let out a sardonic laugh. He'd never been that good at showing affection, and it appeared that that aspect hadn't changed much.
"It is not your fault, Sarah," he said carefully, going against his improper dialect and pronouncing each word in a clipped, forceful fashion to make sure she heard every one. "You tried, you fought good'n strong, but things jus' didn' turn out the way we'd wanted 'em to. Ya can't blame yerself fer that. Ya can't see the future, can ya?"
She laughed again and wiped her face on the sleave of her servant's dress. "No, I suppose I can't… But I still should've paid attention to the past and present. I just marked everything off as a fantasy and tried to forget it, but…"
Hoggle shook his head and moved across the room. "No more a' that," he said gruffly. "No more a' this whimperin'. Yer the only person to ever stand up ta Jareth and walk away with 'er head high – ya can't go about feelin' sorry fer yerself, cryin' an' blamin' yerself fer things ya could never stop. Really, what would the rest of 'em say?"
Sarah looked at Hoggle sharply, "The rest of them? Ludo and Didymus? Where have they gone, anyways?"
Hoggle looked out the barred window, a knowing gleam in his eye. "They're out there. Released before me, 'coz I was actually employed by Jareth and got a longer sentence. I s'pose they're out there, helpin' ta rebuild the city'r somethin' like that."
"Yeah," Sarah smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like something they'd do…"
"My sentence ends soon y'know. Couple weeks, I think – hard ta keep track o' time in 'ere. But, soon."
"Maybe I could help – talk to Jareth or something? Maybe when you get out, we could talk a little… It's so nice seeing a familiar face in here, Hoggle. It makes me feel…"
"Like yer not alone?"
"Yeah. Like that."
There was silence for a while as they both stared out the window at the lightening sky and Sarah felt better than she had in weeks – perhaps even years, during that time after her journey through the Labyrinth when she felt like she was missing something but just couldn't place what.
"It's a nice feelin', isn't it? Not bein' alone?" Hoggle mused quietly.
Sarah just nodded and smiled.
P.S; Yes, I do hate dialects and yes, I did destroy the Bog of Eternal Stench for no other reason than to bury my least favorite aspect of the film... For the record, I hate toilet humor. ):