Back To The Lusting King
Chapter 2
Author: Sedruce
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Sarah has been spirited away!
Notes: NOT A STORY FOR CHILDREN! If you're underage, get out. Please. If you're
still reading this, hey, I warned you, don't sue me for inappropriateness.
@}~~~~~~~~~~Chapter Two: Revisited
But he was still here, he wasn't in any castle, not like last time. He threw
the switch a few times, but with no luck. "Sarah?" he whispered, afraid.
"Sarah, are you in here? Sarah!" No answer. Then, behind him, in the
hallway still lit by the gentle glow of the setting sun, there was a sound,
an awful lot like a chuckle.
"Toby," said the silky voice he remembered. The Goblin King. He whipped
around to face the man angrily, and started at the beauty he found before him.
Toby was gay, so he was used to finding men attractive, but this man was beyond
compare. He found himself wanting to throw his arms around him, kiss those lips
which grinned sinisterly.
The sinister grin reminded him of Sarah. "What have you done with her?"
he asked. He had meant to be forceful, but he sounded more afraid, and even
a little lustful. The man flashed a toothy smile, showing off his uneven teeth,
with almost horrifyingly long, sharp canines, reminding Toby of a vampire.
"Only what she asked me to do," he said. Toby blinked. "Oh, you
thought she wished you away? No, no, not at all. She said that into a mirror,
to her own reflection. She wanted to come to my castle, wanted to be with me.
Wanted to be away from the wretched brother of hers she'd risked her life for,
who had just thrown a nasty punch at her."
Toby gaped at the man, and took a step towards him, unwillingly. "You're
Jareth," he accused.
The man bowed gracefully. "Yes, I am. The Goblin King. I only allow those
I care about call me Jareth. So don't try it again."
"Why not, Jareth? What will you do to me, Jareth?" Toby demanded,
spitting the name like a foul taste. Jareth snapped and their environment changed,
swiftly and suddenly, to a dark room of uneven stones with no door and no opening.
"Bring you here. Oh, before I leave, take this, Sarah would have wanted
you to have it, I'm sure. It's just a little something to show you your dreams."
With that, Jareth vanished, leaving in his place, in the very footprint left
by one of his boots, a perfectly spherical crystal. Toby picked it up, then
sat down against a wall.
"Show me my dreams, huh," he said. A mist filled the crystal and showed
him Sarah, with Jareth, crying into his chest as he patted her head gently.
He threw it angrily aside and shouted to no one, "That's not my dream!"
Sarah did indeed have her head resting on Jareth's shoulder, crying into his
flowing white blouse. He had easily taken care of her jaw and tooth, restoring
her to full physical health, but her heart still stung.
Jareth lifted her head gently with a hand under her chin. "You know, he
deserves an oubliette," he said. Sarah nodded, angry and honestly not caring
that Jareth would do that if she gave her approval. "I had already put
him in one, but if you want, I'll send him home." Sarah shook her head.
"You want him to stay in there?" asked Jareth, surprised that sweet
Sarah, innocent Sarah, forgiving Sarah could sentence Toby to a life worse than
death.
"Yes," she whispered, her voice raspy. "Yes, he deserves it."
Jareth stroked her cheek delicately, and Sarah closed her eyes, leaning back
into his chest. She was sitting on his lap in his throne, in a room she remembered.
The stairwell over there lead to that disorienting room of stairs, like M.C.
Escher's picture. Jareth's gloved hand gently stroked her back, and she held
his neck.
"Sarah, you are perfect. You are so good. Let Toby go," he whispered
to her. She pulled back to look him in the eye.
"If...if I tell you to send him home, can he live in peace, away from this?
Will I ever have to see him again? Will he...will he...will he have the power
to come here?"
"Yes, no, no. I fell in love with you, Sarah, that's why you have the power
to come, to bring him. And you have the power to send me home. I am your slave
Sarah. Love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave, remember? If
you tell me to send him home, I will. But if you tell me, now, that you want
him in the oubliette, he'll stay there forever. I do not have the power to unlock
that place after the final decision."
"Send him home," she said softly. He snapped, then showed her a crystal.
It showed Toby, now in his bedroom, shock evident on his face. He held a crystal
in his hand. Sarah felt a fresh surge of anger through her veins as she watched
him. She turned away, Jareth waved a hand, and the crystal vanished from her
peripheral vision.
"Good girl," Jareth said. "Right thing to do, you know."
Sarah blinked back tears of anger and sadness. She leaned back into him, but
instead of resting her head once more on his shoulder, she kissed his cheek.
Jareth was startled, and just looked at her for a moment. He wanted to kiss
her, but was determined to hold his control. "What was that for?"
he asked her. She smiled slightly, making her forlorn, angry, and flushed face
very beautiful in an instant.
"To thank you. For that, for bringing me back, for everything."
"Why did you ask to come back, Sarah?" Jareth said. She closed her
eyes for a moment, then looked him right in his own deep eyes. "Other than
what Toby had done to you, I mean," he said, seeing pain in her face and
thinking it had to do with her brother.
"Toby had nothing to do with it. I told him the truth so he'd understand
why I had to disappear. I told him I loved you. If you were watching with your
crystals, you'd have seen. I don't know that you were, though."
"I always have a crystal of you nearby," he answered. She smiled and
blushed.
"I love Toby still, of course, and hate to leave him, but I had to come
back. I just had to. I fell in love with you. I had to come back and tell you.
I don't want to go home. I don't want to have to fight you again. I just want
to love you," she said. Upon finishing this, she again kissed his cheek.
"You want to tell him goodbye, don't you," Jareth said, turning away
slightly. After a minute, Sarah nodded. She may be angry now, but she wouldn't
be forever. He deserved her goodbye, at least. "Stand up and take my hand,"
he said. She stood and reached out for his hand. After he stood, he gave it
to her. In a moment, Sarah found herself, still holding Jareth's gloved hand,
in Toby's bedroom. Toby held Lancelot tightly to his chest.
"You're another hallucination," he whispered. Sarah released Jareth's
hand with a gentle look at him, then strode to Toby's bed. She sat beside him,
looking at his form, hugging his knees to him.
"No, I'm not. I'm real. But I'm only back to tell you goodbye. And to tell
you that you had nothing to do with my decision to return. The reason I told
you the truth was not because I feared he would want revenge. It was because
I was going back, today. Please don't feel guilty. I still love you, Toby. I'm
sorry I have to leave you. Give Mom and Dad the manuscript. It has my stamp,
which I lost a long time ago. They'll know you didn't write it, and certainly
not to justify my disappearance. If they want to know where I am, tell them-"
she looked at Jareth for a second "-I ran off with someone I love."
Toby blinked. She reached out and hugged him. "I love you, Toby. Otherwise,
I would never have fought for you the first time I was in the Labyrinth. Remember
that," she added. Toby blinked back tears. Sarah stood and walked towards
Jareth, taking his hand again. "Let's go home," she said to him. Jareth
smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. With her free hand, Sarah waved goodbye
to her brother, who leapt at them in a last-ditch attempt to keep her there.
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