A/N: Hey everybody. Sorry about the wait. Life's been busy, blah blah blah. Anyway, here's the next installment of Batalla Dos Corazons. I wrestled with myself for a very long time in attempt to get this chapter to flow right and to convey exactly what I want it to. So please, be kind and try to enjoy the chapter. :)

xXx

It was a huge risk, transporting another being with himself. He had never attempted such a feat before, and he had no idea what the outcome would be. Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of it. In the instant he transported Sarah and himself, Jareth lost focus, and could not transport them slightly outside the city, as was his original hasty thought. He ended up losing his grasp on the destination, and as their surroundings dematerialized and began to fade into something else, he let out a curse.

Instead of the bright midday sun shining down on them, he and Sarah were met with damp, stuffy darkness. As soon as their surroundings fully materialized, Jareth felt his strength give out, and he fell to his knees, taking Sarah down with him. They hit a hard stoned floor with a thump, and Sarah quickly began to struggle to push his body off hers.

"What did you do?" she demanded angrily, squirming out from under him. She started to stand up, but Jareth grasped the edge of her skirt.

"Don't stand up yet," he panted, exhausted from the strain of transporting them both. Sarah ignored him, and yanked her dress from his hand as she rose to her feet...

...And promptly toppled over, landing in a heap next to the Goblin King.

"Should have listened," Jareth grunted, rolling onto his back and pulling his false nose and hat off with one hand. Sarah moaned from her spot on the floor as she turned over, supporting herself on her forearms. Suddenly, she let out a strangled cough, and vomited. With a sound that almost sounded like a whine, she rolled away from her mess.

"Gods! It smells awful in here!" Sarah rasped as soon as she caught her breath. It truly did smell terrible in there, wherever there was. It smelled like old sewage and something sharp, sour, and thick, and it made Sarah close to gagging.

"Trust me," Jareth muttered, massaging his temples, "As bad as this is, I've smelled worse."

"I don't know how that is even possible," Sarah retorted, "Where are we, and why do I feel so sick?""

"You're experiencing the side affects of a phenomenon known to mortals as Fae transportation," Jareth supplied, pushing himself up onto his elbows. He was still mentally, physically, and magically drained from moving them both without warning, but he had regained full use of his voice. "You aren't used to it, and that is why your body reacted the way it did. Vomiting, dizziness, temporary loss of sight and or motor skills are all normal for a mortal to experience after going through it.

"You mean I'm blind?" Sarah all but screeched as his words sunk in, "It isn't really pitch black here? What have you done to me? Where are we?"

Jareth's hand clamped down on her arm like a vise. "Princess, I am going to say this once, and once only. Keep. Quiet." he warned, "As of this moment, I have no idea where we are. I am just as blind as you, because as you first speculated, it is nearly black as midnight in here. We seem to be in some sort of cave, but until we can guarantee our security, I suggest you lower your voice."

"Well you owe me a very thorough explanation, your highness," Sarah hissed, pulling her arm away as she clawed at his hand. Pushing herself backwards away from the king with her hands, Sarah scooted till her back hit the wall of the cave. The bumps of the wall's strange pattern dug into her skin through her shirt, and Sarah turned slightly to feel the grooves with her fingers. She had never felt anything like it before, and she was curious as to what made it feel the way it did.

"Do you know if we are in the Aboveground still?" she whispered, still angry at Jareth for transporting them without warning. She let her hand slide up the wall, feeling the continuous round bumps and diamond-like holes.

"We are still in the Elf kingdom," Jareth responded, "I doubt my magic would allow me to transport the two of us five miles away, let alone between realms without warning. Most likely, we are not far from that alleyway."

"Can't you transport us back?" Sarah asked, slightly distracted in her examination of the cave's strange design, "Or at least to somewhere where we know where we are?"

The Goblin King pushed himself slowly to a cross-legged sitting position. "Not yet," he answered, "Transporting the both of us sapped a lot of my magical energy. It may take up to an hour before I can accomplish such a feat again."

Sarah's hands stopped their exploration. "An hour?" she demanded, "I can't be missing for an hour! My sister is already acting strange. If I'm gone for much longer, she's bound to go completely mad!"

"There is nothing I can do about it!" Jareth retorted, "In a few moments, I will be able to produce a light, and perhaps we will see a way out. In the meantime, try to keep your hysteria under control."

"I am not hysterical!" Sarah snapped, "I am displaying perfectly rational emotions in response to being taken against my will and without my knowledge to some cave that is completely uncharted as far as we know!" She let out a small huff of frustration, and tucked her legs into a cross-legged position.

"Well we might as well make the best of this time," she finally said at length, once her anger had cooled to a simmer, "What were you going to tell me about the Goblin King's duties?"

Jareth smirked at her practicality before becoming serious. "Part of the Goblin King's job is to take unwanted children into the Labyrinth. It's a rite of passage of sorts for all High Heirs," he explained, "These children are the ones that have been wished away by parents, siblings, or other guardians. The-"

"The children are taken away from their families because of a wish?" Sarah interrupted incredulously, "That's hardly fair!"

"I'm not finished yet!" Jareth retorted, "Now, as I was saying, the wishers have a chance to prove themselves by running the Labyrinth. They start at the outside wall and finish at my castle at the center. If they can finish the task in thirteen hours, they have proven themselves to be worthy of taking the child back with them. The ones who fail only do so because they truly don't want the child."

"So what do you do with the children that end up staying?" Sarah asked, concerned for their well-being, "You don't... turn them into goblins do you?"

At this, Jareth gave a hearty laugh. "Absolutely not!" he answered, "That's completely preposterous! I find them good homes with Fae, Elvish, or Mortal families. Before the war, that is. I haven't been able to run my kingdom properly in ten years."

"Well then, what happens to the children who get wished away now?" Sarah inquired, curious to find out if the Goblin King had a back-up plan.

"Nothing," Jareth replied, "I don't respond to wishing summons anymore. I hardly feel them now, though that is probably attributed to the fact that I haven't been in my Labyrinth in years. That is why it is so strange and unsettling that you wished for something, and it came true."

"You granted my wish?" This was strange. Sarah wasn't sure what do think of this turn of events.

"That's just the thing." Jareth said, voice rising, "I don't grant wishes! I only respond when children are wished away. "

"So you didn't grant my wish?"

"But I think I did!" The Goblin King was growing more and more excited, "Which makes absolutely no sense at all. How could I have done that, especially in the Aboveground? I only respond to Underground summons."

Now Sarah was growing confused. "I don't understand," she mumbled, "How can something happen if it is virtually impossible?"

Jareth ran a hand through his wild hair. "I haven't the slightest idea," he replied, "Perhaps there is magic in you that reacted to mine."

"There's nothing magical about me," Sarah quickly denied, "I already told you."

"But your sister-"

"The oracle that blessed her died before I was born," she cut off, "Before I was conceived even. I didn't get anything from her. Can you make a light yet?"

He blinked at her abrupt turnabout in the conversation, and Jareth could hear her rising to her feet. "I wonder if I can feel a way out..." she muttered. Meanwhile, Jareth's mind was going over at her angry words from earlier. They sparked something that sounded strangely familiar.

I am displaying perfectly rational emotions in response to being taken against my will and without my knowledge to some cave that is completely uncharted as far as we know.

Uncharted as far as we know...

"There's a ledge here," Sarah declared, her hands having felt a gap in the wall, right at her shoulder level "Or a cutout or something. Maybe a passage." She grunted as she reached into it, trying to feel how deep it was. Her hands were met with a coarse cloth, and giving it a tug, she realized something was holding it back. "There's something in here." she informed Jareth, as she discovered the cloth was wrapped around something in a bundle, "Something large."

Abruptly, the wheels clicked into place in Jareth's mind. Drawing on his power, he twisted his hand producing a small crystal. He focused on the feel of it, and channeled his magic into it, producing a small glow. With a large exhale, he sent more energy to the crystal until it shone brightly, the light bouncing off the walls of the cave.

His eyes not used to the brightness, it took a moment for Jareth to focus. As the cave became clearer, he realized they were in some sort of room, with strange stones fastened to the wall. However, as his vision became fully accustomed to the light, he realized they weren't stones at all, but were in fact... bone. Skulls, to be exact.

Suddenly, Sarah let out a shriek. "It's a body!" she screamed, stumbling away from the cutout, which was in fact a shelf. She hit the wall Jareth had been studying and clutched her throat in terror. "Oh gods, it's a body," she gasped, her chest heaving in panic.

Indeed there was a body resting on the shelf. It was wrapped tightly in purple strips of cloth that at one point must have been bright and rich. Now they were faded, indicating that the body must have been very old. Every part of the body was swathed in the bandages except for the face, which had shriveled up like old parchment and was contorted into a grisly grimace.

"Princess, come here," Jareth commanded, forcing himself stand up as he held out a hand. If she realized she was leaning up against a wall of skulls, he wasn't sure she would stay conscious, let alone lucid. She hadn't seemed to have heard him the first time, so Jareth slowly began to approach her, keeping his movements slow.

"Sarah, take my hand," he coaxed, his tone soft, "Come here."

Sarah still wasn't responding. "It's a body," she whispered in horror, "I touched a body." Her hand fell from her throat and hit the skull wall, causing Jareth to flinch. She was still for a moment before she realized what she was touching. Then with a cry, she flung herself away from the wall and catapulted into the Goblin King's body.

Jareth stumbled back with a grunt. He hadn't expected the girl to launch herself at him. Her fingers were digging into his shirt and Jareth's arms encircled her body reflexively, but still kept a tight grip on the crystal light in his hand. In response, she gripped him harder and Jareth could feel her trembling. Was she crying?

"Shh," he soothed uneasily, unsure of what to do or say, "They're dead and cannot harm you." Hoping it would ease her fears, Jareth slowly rubbed small circles on her back with his free hand. "I'll keep you safe," he whispered into her hair, trying to calm her, "Just relax and breathe."

Pulling away, Sarah looked him in the face, and he saw that she was not crying, but in fact, laughing. "I'm sorry," she panted, "I don't know why I'm laughing... I think... I think I'm actually scared silly!" She buried her face into his chest again to muffle her giggles.

"By the gods, you truly are hysterical!" Jareth declared in shock, "Most women would be crying, scared out of their wits!"

Sarah lifted her head. "But I am scared," she protested between giggles, "That body is absolutely terrifying. And I touched it." Suddenly, her giggles morphed into tears, and she leaned into the Goblin King once more. Jareth's shirt became slightly damp as Sarah continued to cry. I was right about her not remaining lucid, he thought sardonically.

"Where are we?" Sarah sobbed, her voice muffled in his chest, "Have you any idea now?"

Jareth sighed and gave her a comforting squeeze. "I think we're in the catacombs below the city."

xXx

Meanwhile, back in the castle, Karen was pacing the floor of her chambers. Occasionally, she would spare a glance out her window, but for the most part, she was focused on the floor.

"I should have known," she muttered, clasping her hands behind her back, "I should have known I couldn't trust her."

"You most certainly should have." Arden spoke from her doorway. Karen jumped and let out a squeak.

"Have you been standing there for long?" she asked, halting her pacing.

"No." Arden replied briskly, striding into the room. He stopped at her window and pressed his hands upon the sill. "I asked you to do one thing for me, Karen," he said at length, "One thing, and you couldn't come through with it."

Karen looked down at her feet in shame. "I... I'm sorry, Arden," she apologized, laying a hand on his shoulder, "I shouldn't have let her out of my sight."

"I went to war for you," Arden continued, ignoring Karen's apology and shrugging her hand off, "My country has been fighting for you for ten years. And just when we are given the opportunity to end it, you go and destroy that hope!" His voice rose and his hands gripped the window sill in anger. "Did I ask too much, my love?" he demanded, voice thick with malice and sarcasm, "Was it too heavy a load to bear?"

"You're scaring me," Karen whispered, "Arden, stop."

Arden whirled around, his face furious. "Stop what, Karen?" he asked, "Stop battling over your hand? Stop trying to end this bloody war? My brother has the lowest opinion of me, and my father's isn't much higher. I need to take action before something worse happens."

"Whatever you have planned will still work," Karen assured weakly, trying to avoid angering him further, "She'll come back, and when she does, you can continue with ending the war."

"Your slip up has cost us," Arden hissed, "You have set my plans back an entire three weeks. Three weeks, Karen!" He pushed himself away from the window and stalked back to the doorway. "If that damned sister of yours isn't found by sundown, we are going to assume she has been taken by the Fae. And if that happens, it means everything I have planned with be ruined. If that is the case, you and I will have to come up with something else. It will not be a pleasant experience. For either of us." With that, he strode from the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Karen flinched at his heated exit and slumped down to sit on the floor against the wall. "Oh Sarah, where have you gone?" she muttered, "Why today of all days to be stubborn?"

Her face crumpled, and for a moment it looked like she was about to cry. However, as soon as the tears gathered in her eyes, Karen shook her head. "Everything is going to be fine," she resolutely declared out loud. Rising to her feet, she brushed her skirt off and straightened her shoulders. "Things will turn out," Karen whispered, turning to stare out the window, "Just like she said. Things will turn out."

There is a web address for a picture of what the catacombs look like on my profile.

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