I'm sorry if the waiting period is long between chapters! It will get better now because I am finally done with my last trimester of school for the year! My summer schedule will be lighter, so more chapters will arrive on a more regular basis! Enjoy!
Note: Slightly graphic? I do not know what constitutes a warning for creepy content, but we are in the Nightmare Labyrinth, so creepy is the norm
Sarah inhaled sharply and hiccupped. Slimy goo came surging out of her body and spilled onto the sandy shore of the bog. Crouching on his knees Jareth leaned down to wipe her cheeks clean and brush her hair back from her face. Her body shook as it recovered quietly, her pained moans continued for a number of minutes while the exhausted Goblin King sat quietly beside her. He was trying to maintain his calm, but already his temper was waning. After escaping the trap that Jarah had set for him he had little patience left for his cold hearted brother. Now, Sarah was hurting, her slip into the Nightmare Bog had almost cost her life, the poison of the waters could have leaked into her brain by bloodstream and settled such a black despair there that she would be dead in hours.
He thanked every god from every religion imaginable that he had broken free of Sarah's hideous doppelgänger, whose carcass was now lying in strange pieces on the maze-floor where he had left her. It was not as though he had meant to kill her; the little imp should have known that he was no feast for her kind. He was the pure opposite of Jarah, and this made him an impenetrable force. Dream against nightmare; Jareth was like the sunshine to Jarah moon glow. When the nightmare-demon had chewed into his flesh she had been thrown from his body almost instantaneously, before Jareth could even realize what was happening. His blood on her lips seared her skin and melted away the loveliness of Sarah from the she-witch's body, revealing the molted violet skin and straw-like hair. Her eyes of green had melted away into two empty pits, wherein any mortal who looked would see their own worst fears.
His blood had not stopped there, for even as the Sarah-skin had dropped away so did the poor beast's own flesh. She made little noise, which was what made the whole minute so terrible. She writhed for a moment, gasping softly as her fingers fell off, taking shards of her flesh away from the bones of her arms. Her hair sank free from her skull and shriveled against the stone ground. Her teeth blackened and shrank until disappearing altogether and she flung her arms up only to have them disintegrate to her shoulders.
Jareth had lain on the ground through these terrible moments of death, watching as piece by piece she melted away and was scattered, in remaining pieces, about the labyrinth floor. All the while after, as he stormed through the darkness hunting for Sarah, he could hear the silence of the she-beast ringing louder than any sound in his ears. Her crumbling features replayed in his mind, as though to remind him of his own failings; this trap of Jarah's was not just a means to attain Sarah alone, it was a reminder of Sarah's waning mortality.
Or, perhaps, Jareth was reading too deeply into a very haunting death of a Nightmare.
Sarah finally breathed easily, her back visible through her soaked shirt moved slowly and deeply. She was still unconscious, so Jareth leaned down to press his ear against her ribs to listen for bog in the lungs.
"What are you doing?" Her voice was weak.
Jareth pulled away from her body quickly and smiled wickedly at Sarah.
"Is that anyway to greet the one who saved you?" He chided.
"You mean the same one who trapped me for years without my consent and had me living in a delusion?" It took her a while to actually say all of this, but delivery impeded or not, she was still very good at verbal stinging.
"I wish you had learned to play nicely in school."
"Considering I haven't been in a real school for years I am not too surprised I lost some social skill." She tried to sit up, but cringed when she bent her body to get on all fours.
"Take it easy." He stretched his legs and stood up, manifesting breeches and a shirt as he stood.
"You were naked when you jumped in." She grumbled.
"I did not want to ruin decent clothes, whether or not you were about to meet death."
"It's nice to know you care." Sarah finally managed to roll over and sit up straight, chilled. "How did you find me?"
"You are not wearing deodorant."
"And you know what that is because…?"
He gave her an incredulous look. "Who was responsible for manifesting a false reality for all that time? I did significant research for you to have the best quality of human life."
"Oddly enough, I am not flattered." She looked up at the sky, which was always a dim black and found that it had started to grow lighter. "I'm running out of time." She whined.
She got to her feet painfully and stumbled around, searching for a direction to take. Jareth was swiftly at her side and took her arm to steady her.
"You have just swallowed half of the ridiculous bog. Give yourself a moment."
"I don't have a moment," She swung his hold away. "I need to get out of her, and I know you don't want me to succeed."
"Sarah," He said gravely. "There is nothing I want more than for you to get yourself out of here. Now that I am free from my trap I am going to help you."
She stared at him hard, her eyes fixated on his own. What was troubling about him was his ability to charm and beguile. In the world she was currently in, with hell waiting behind every turn, she was almost searching for some charm to set her mind at ease.
"You know something, Kingy?" She said.
He was too startled to answer her.
"I think I knew I never got out." She said. "And I think, maybe I didn't want to go back. But what might have been nice was if instead of shoving my mortal ass into a dream world you could have given me a chance on my own here. Maybe loosen those chains you are so fond of."
Feeling proud, she chose her direction and stormed left, into the gully of trees that awaited her. She had glanced back to try and give him a sly look just as he was reaching to warn her of the tree she was about to crash into.
"Ow!" Sarah tumbled backward but, caught by Jareth, was able to see what had been in her way. A thick tree, cut before its branches could begin, sat before them. It did not matter that its bark was too pale and peeling away, or that its roots were purple with sickness; what mattered to Sarah was the body, frozen and half made of wood itself that was caught, intertwining with the flesh of the tree itself, as though it was being swallowed and slowly transformed.
"Sarah, it's not real, we need to go." Jareth whispered low in her ear.
Sir Didymus's face, frozen in a silent cry of agony stared at Sarah. The harsh bark with all its peeling flesh clung to his wooden body fiercely and Sarah felt tears bubbling over her cheeks. Jareth, in a moment that Sarah would puzzle over later clamped a hand over her eyes and dragged her past the fox-eating tree and away into the forest. He stopped only when they were far away enough for Sarah not to see a trace of bog, or her slaughtered friend, where upon she shoved him away and viciously rubbed her eyes.
The pair had almost no time to pause before a guttural cry rang through the forest.
Jareth cursed, and he grabbed her wrist, but running was now a lost cause. The trees suddenly blazed with yellow flame, whose arrival was instantaneous, and accompanied by six melting, feathered bodies. Their flesh was black, their hair and feathers were white and flaming brightly in the dimness of the forest. Their bodies were skeletal, their limbs holding onto their shapes by means of a few tendrils of muscle. Their faces were pale, but their eyes burned blue, set deep into the bony structure, fixated above a toothy smile.
"Welcome back little Lady." One hissed. The guttural cry was nothing like the jazzy, throaty voice of the Fiery she had met before.
As the group circled around Sarah and Jareth, setting the surrounding trees ablaze, a figure from above appeared, his white pupils dilating in delight when the first flame licked up Sarah's arm.