DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this.
All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.
She woke with the dusk and wandered out into the sitting room to find Toby and his friend busy playing a video game on the big TV.
"Hope you finished your homework." She said walking into the kitchen to grab a cold drink.
"I need help with the maths." Toby said as she stood in the doorway downing some headache tablets and choking down the anti-depressants at the same time.
"Hi Sarah." Petey said looking up from intently watching the game.
"Hey Petey, where's Nick?"
"Home, he's got a cold."
"Too bad, are you staying over tonight?" Sarah asked walking over towards her studio.
"If its ok?"
"Sure. Tobe have you moved my portfolio?" She paused as she opened the door.
"Nope, you left it by the door." Toby replied, sidetracked by the video game. Sarah frowned and closed the door behind her to find the portfolio open on the big work table in the middle of the room. She frowned in confusion, closing the portfolio before turning to put some music on and stepping out through the glass doors onto the balcony to come face to face with a barn owl sat on the railings.
"It's rude to stare." She told the bird leaving the door open and walking back into the studio. Settling herself in her favourite chair she took up pencil and paper and began to sketch the owl as it sat and glared at her.
She ruthlessly repressed the anxiety and worry, trying to calm her inner self as she drew, concentrating solely on getting the details of the birds feathers right, their texture and markings appearing on the pristine paper gracefully, and had a heart attack as she looked up again to find him stood leaning back against the railing nonchalantly regarding her with narrowed eyes.
"I preferred you as a bird." She muttered feeling self conscious in her over sized t-shirt and sweat pants. "Why are you here?" She asked finally, putting down the pencil and rubbing her scar without realising.
"Somebody asked me to be here." He replied turning and looking out over the city, his pale hair turning golden in the last of the suns rays.
"Why are you here?" He asked in return, turning back to regard her as she got up and put the sketchbook down, the drawings catching his eye. "Not bad for somebody who calls themselves an amateur." He said flicking through the pages. "Not sure if I should be flattered or not, some of these make me look less than perfect." He ignored her glare as she took the book from his hands and placed it on a pile out of his reach.
"It's my house, why are you really here?" She said refusing to budge as he turned and came closer to her, his superior smirk unnerving her.
"I already told you precious. Somebody asked me to... stop by." Absently he regarded her through hooded eyes, noting that the bruise on her cheek had long since faded as he picked up her hand to examine the scar. Sarah bit her lip as his gloved fingers held her captive.
"It itches." She said, feeling stupid as soon as she opened her mouth as he cast her a disparaging look and released her hand to turn back to the door. Fear rose, making her heart pound as she thought he was about to leave and before she knew it she had crossed the intervening space and grasped hold of his arm, the silk of his shirt whispering against her fingers. "Don't go, I meant what I said Jareth, I'm sorry."
"Do you think it is that easy?" He sneered not looking at her. "Do you think that makes things right between us Sarah? Do you think that absolves you of your guilt?" Sarah shook her head in mute apology. She gasped as he turned abruptly and grasped hold of her neck, forcing her back against a bookshelf. His presence overwhelmed her as his anger took over and he pressed her against the bookshelf harder. "What makes you think your apology means anything to me little girl? You escaped the Labyrinth because I let you win. Foolish child, you assume you bested me? You were pathetic. You think any of this will change what you did?" He snarled ignoring the heat on his chest where she placed her hand to try and push him away as he revelled in the control and the terror in her eyes.
"Please stop..." She whimpered gasping for breath.
"You're pathetic." He said before releasing her, letting her fall to the floor at his feet, where she belonged. He turned away to the balcony, feeling hemmed in by all the books and paper. "12 years and that's all you can say Sarah? All the others, they stayed with you, and only now you realise you need me? The damage you have done to my realm can not be undone with just an apology. We have debts you and I; they will be repaid." He ignored her as she got up off the floor, her hands shaking as she fumbled for her drink to try and wash away the fear.
"I didn't expect my apology to change anything. I know I'm responsible for a lot of things Jareth, but you are too. I told you last time, you broke me. I don't know what is missing but, nothing feels right. You've taken something from me and I want it back. I can't live a half life any more. I want to be able to feel more than just fear and anger. I want to feel alive. I want to feel what its like to love somebody and be loved in return. I don't want to be alone in a world filled by people I can't connect with." She finished standing before him, challenging him to deny he had broken her. "You didn't let me win. You tried your best to make sure I didn't." She stated standing up straighter, ignoring the pain of the bruised flesh on her neck.
"I did no such thing."
"I'm not naive any more, and I remember what you said; and you didn't say those things out of a need to get your jollies off. You said them because they were important. You needed me to relinquish control, to be your slave. You said it because you needed me, or something I had that you wanted, and it wasn't my brother. Toby was just an excuse."
"You still talk too much." He said bitterly, turning away from her, ignoring the triumphant look in her eyes. "You've become weak Sarah. When did you start begging?" He mocked her.
"When you made me make a decision I was too young to understand." She snarled walking back into her studio and flopping down in the chair, her head spinning. He followed her and as she leant back in the comfortable chair he leant in over her, his hands leaning on the arm rests either side of her, pinning her in.
"Don't give me that bullshit about being innocent Sarah." He murmured, his lips inches from hers. "You can't lie to me Precious, I've seen your dreams, and you are still just a frightened little girl who doesn't know her own power." He taunted her again.
"No I'm not." She whispered, enthralled by his proximity.
"Prove it." He glared, not moving. He smirked as she bit her lip and finally broke eye contact. "Thought so."
"Why do you go out of your way to hurt me?"
"Au contraire mon chéri. You hurt yourself. There is nobody else to blame but you, nobody makes you stay with a man who takes his insecurities out on you, nobody makes you let him walk all over you, nobody but you lets him get away with sleeping with other women when he likes whilst you pretend to be the dutiful little girlfriend. If you were mine Precious I'd never let you out of my sight and I'd make damn sure everyone knew you were off limits. Your work colleague is right, you are wasted and you are in over your head." During his speech she had turned back to face him, her eyes trying to find some measure of concern or compassion in his, but all she found was cold hardness and anger.
"Go away. If this is how you think you are helping, just... go away." Sarah said, ignoring the tears as she pushed her way out of the chair and past him towards the door.
"You can only defy me so many times Precious before you make me really angry. There are debts between you and I." He said with an intense finality and warning before he changed form and flew away into the night sky; leaving Sarah shaken and once more alone.
Cursing herself for an idiot she slid to the floor by the door; angry she had let him control her emotions so, made her feel so very vulnerable.
"Just like Him." She muttered picking up a book that had fallen off the shelf when he has pushed her against it. How long she sat there for she couldn't have said, but when her lethargic shock passed away her stubbornness reasserted itself and made her get up, picking up and placing back displaced items in the room, carefully stowing the sketches back into the hard leather bound portfolio and placing it with others that were considerably fuller in the rack. Mechanically she closed and locked the balcony door, chasing away the chill autumn night even though with the permission she had granted him doors were not a problem to his oh so royal pain in the ass.
"How am I supposed to repay a debt when I don't even know what the debt really is?" She mused picking up a stray pencil and unsure what to do with herself she sat back down in her chair, glaring at the sketch of the owl which glared at her, mockingly. Feeling childish she stuck her tongue out at the owl and turned him over, sketching a rough render of a clock with 13 hours.
"Is this a dream or should I be worrying?" She asked turning around to watch him basking in the afternoon sunlight on a throne made of stone books.
"A dream. My Labyrinth no longer takes this form."
"And why pray tell Your Majesty are you in my dream?"
"Lets call it curiosity."
"That's what gets people in trouble you know." She sighed turning away from him; idly tracing the path of the sundial at her feet, pausing as she reached number 13. "Why are there 13 hours?"
"Now who is curious?" He smirked leaning back on the bronze sundial pointer as she shrugged and ignored his capriciousness.
"So. What next?"
"That depends on you."
"Really?"
"No. Not really, I thought I'd try and be gracious."
"Gosh. You're really feeling out of sorts aren't you."
"Nothing for you to worry about Sarah."
"Apparently though it is, else you wouldn't be here, on a sundial, with me, floating in mid air above the labyrinth. Forgive me if it seems a tiny bit surreal, and ironic, but I'm trying to grasp the hidden symbols and nuances so when you shout at me mercilessly for forgetting something I have an excuse for it."
"What excuse was that?"
"Too many hidden symbols. Too many implied words. Too many innuendoes. Too many damn things I don't understand." She groused walking around the dial again, watching the shadow of the hour mark follow her. She stopped again with the 13 at her feet and turned to face him squarely, ignoring the voice in the back of her head who appreciated the easy way he lent on the thin bronze dial, one foot up; twirling a crystal in his hand like it was the most comfortable place to sit in the world; the book throne gone in the blink of an eye. He smirked at her again and watched with hooded eyes as for no apparent reason she blushed.
"What is the debt."
"I do not wish to discuss that."
"I do."
"Tough. This is neither the time nor the place."
"Why not? Seems a perfectly logical place to begin." She muttered folding her arms and glaring at him. "If this isn't the right time, when will it be the right time? Now?" She asked stepping sideways to the number 1. "Or how about now?" She moved again, staring out at the labyrinth far below, its destruction softened by distance.
"You will be told when the time is …appropriate." He whispered into her ear making her shiver involuntarily.
"I think you enjoy this too much." She continued, turning to face him again and realising she was now almost tall enough to look him in the eye.
"My dear, what greater pleasure can there be?" He asked moving closer.
"You're changing the subject again." She stated, refusing to move as she glared into his mismatched eyes, mentally stopping herself from getting lost in the depths.
"I think you're frightened." He crooned, his lips almost close enough to touch hers.
"I know I am."
"For there to be forgiveness there must first be a discussion for the.. lets call it.. compensation for the crime committed." Her heart stopped as he kissed her breath away.
She woke gasping.
"That was definitely NOT how it was supposed to go." She whispered trying to stretch the kinks out of her neck from falling asleep in her chair. The sketchbook had fallen to the floor as she dreamt, and once again the owl was looking at her with mocking eyes. With a sigh she left her studio and crept to her room and her bed.