The original title of this chapter was Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, because Sarah is talking to Hoggle, but as I went along, I decided that the title just didn't suit the story, so I changed it. Just thought I'd share that random bit of information with you.
Drawing CloserSarah yawned as she ate dinner, displaying her meatloaf and salad to the rest of the family eating, and it cause quite a disturbance.
"SARAH! We do not need to see what you are chewing, when we can see it in a totally non-revolting form on your plate!" said Ilene, glaring on her stepdaughter.
"Sorry," said Sarah, shrugging after she has swallowed. "Its not like it's that big of a deal."
"Look what I can do!" screeched Toby, now five, as he opened his mouth even wider than Sarah's displaying not only his chewed meal, but the red fruit punch as well, making a truly disgusting sight.
"TOBY!" Ilene yelled. "That is very bad!" She glared at Sarah, saying with her eyes 'now look what you've done!' Oh, well. Sarah didn't really care.
"May I be excused?" she asked, trying to keep the boredom from her voice.
"Yes you may, young lady!" sniffed her father's 'other wife' as Sarah liked to call her. So up Sarah went, cleared her plate, and scraped the vegetables off, but secretly gave the meatloaf to Merlin, because Ilene didn't like it when they fed the dog anything but his dog-food. "Why do we buy this animal food if all we have to do is give him leftovers?!" she'd scream, and Sarah was not the mood to explain that it was something they used to do as a family. If one could call what they used to have 'a family'. A mother gone more than half a year, a father spending most of the day working hard to make ends meet since his wife periodically 'forgot' to send checks, and a seven-year-old struggling to get good grades to impress her mommy and daddy, and trying to be worthy of her parents love and time at every opportunity.
Unfortunately, life didn't work that way. So she just went about her life demanding a new family that she knew deep down that she couldn't really ever get. At least not in this life. So she decided to make a puzzle out of it. A little brother here, a beloved pet here, a large hairy guardian that took the place of the protective older sibling, a much smaller (albeit equally hairy), over-protective parent complete with stuffy manners, and a best friend, with problems and loyalty issues, but with a true heart. And there was Sarah, in the middle, with a severely torn heart and confused mind. Like Malcolm in the Middle, only without all the violence and yelling. The evil mother was still there, though. A permanent fixture, Sarah supposed.
She rinsed of her plate and put it in the drainer, then walked up the stairs to the bathroom, where she brushed her teeth, took a shower, and then she walked into her room, changed into her pajamas, combed her hair, and then made herself cozy into her bed with a new book. "The Princess Bride."
I think that its being made into a movie… either that, or its already been made into one. I should check it out…
These interesting thoughts where interrupted when the door creaked open, and a small figure came in, clutching Lancelot, Sarah's old beloved stuffed teddy, now Toby's nighttime companion who turned into a big grizzly bear to scare away the bad dreams at night when Toby was asleep. And there was Toby, sucking his thumb, and staring at Sarah with adoring eyes.
"Sissy?" he asked, taking his thumb out of his mouth for a moment.
"I'm here, Toby. C'mon, and I'll read you a story." Sarah glanced at her clock, which now read ten thirty, far past his bedtime. Ilene never came to check Toby after he was put to bed, and Toby was smart. Smart like his big sister, as Sarah liked to think. So he would stay up late, and fall asleep to the sound of Sarah reading to him, and would then wake up to find himself back in his bed, with Lancelot securely under his arm, and his blankets tucked in securely around him. Once, Sarah had forgotten to put him back in his bed, and they had fallen asleep together. Fortunately, it was he father who had found them, and had gently woken them up and allowed Sarah to put Toby in his room before his wife found out. This became their nightly routine, and when their parents went out, Toby got to make a big blanket tent with Sissy in her room, and she read to him all night, and she'd make yummy foods for him when he woke up.
So Toby climbed up, and sat in her lap, and she read him a story, letting the words flow easily off her tongue into his ears as he looked at the pictures, and he even learned how to read some words that she showed him. They loved this time most of all. And as she read, slowly, out of the shadowy corners of the room, crept the creatures from Monster Island, from Neverland, and every other story; big hairy creatures, and small hairy creatures, leathery, with wings, with horns, dwarves and fairies, and even caterpillars. And they all gathered round the bed, but never climbed onto it, they just sat and listened, like Toby, to the sound of Sarah reading. And when she was done, sometimes music played softly (like tonight), and she go up and danced with him in her arms until he almost fell asleep (like tonight), and all of them escorted her to his room, and assisted in putting him to bed (like tonight). And this night, like every night, when he was just about to fall asleep, Sarah whispered into his ear, "Goodnight, little prince."
And then they all went back to her room, and Sarah talked with them, and one by one, they drifted back to wherever it was they came from, until only the most precious were left, and she talked to them. But tonight, Sarah wanted be alone early, because she was tired.
"Once again, my Lady, should you ever need us-" began Sir Diydimus.
"Sawa call us." finished Ludo. Sarah smiled and hugged them both.
"I will." said Sarah, happy. And so with final farewells, they went back to their worlds to sleep. And Sarah sat on her bed, feeling emotions that she felt every night that she had pushed back all day that finally came out. Except for one that she always kept under lock and key in her heart. And Hoggle talked with her, and they spoke of everything, their issues, their days, their hopes and joys. Finally, Hoggle went too. And Sarah drifted to sleep.
………….
"Sarah? Sarah?" Her eyes fluttered open slowly, to look around her room, until she found Hoggle's face in the mirror.
"Hoggle? What are you doing?" Sarah asked groggily, not very happy about being disturbed. She wasn't a four-in-the-morning kind of person.
"I'm really sorry about this Sarah… I was just worried."
"Hurrgh… about what?" Sarah said, not wanting to take her head off its pillow.
"Well…" Hoggle's voice sounded concerned. "Its just that for a while, you've been really depressed lately, and I was wondering why? You usually tell me everything." Sarah was in no mood to stay up any longer than necessary to.
"Its just that… Can I please close my eyes?"
"If you want to."
"M'kay. Its just that… I've been trying to, you know, keep myself from the therapist's office by keeping a kind of family structure in my mind."
"Family Structure?"
"Yeah… My father became a workaholic when I was five because my mom left for Hollywood and forgot to send us money, so Dad worked like… all day to get enough money to pay all the bills, and mortgage and stuff, and the occasional toy I asked for. Then there was the time he tried to set aside for me se we could play together. Which was fun, but I missed my mommy, and after a few years of this, he…"
"What? What happened?" Hoggle's tone didn't really sound like it should have, but Sarah was to tired to think about it.
Sarah yawned. "He broke."
"Broke?"
"He was so stressed trying to be a good parent, and trying to have a good career, and trying to keep things from falling apart between him and mom, that finally, he skipped out of town for a week or two."
"What? Why?"
"When I asked him, he said he felt like he had no life of his own. What he did live revolved around everyone but himself. So he called a family friend to watch me, went up to Hollywood to spend time with mom. But that was a disaster.
"How so?"
"He caught her cheating on him. 'In the act', you see."
"… That must have been terrible."
"He left, and no one knew where he was for the rest of the time. When he came back, he seemed like he was twenty years older, and he was a shell. He lives from day to day, and having us is the only thing that really keeps him connected to this life."
"That's even worse."
"Yep. So basically, to keep my life stable, I went around being demanding to try to pull him out of his shell, and assert my position a ruler of the roost when Ilene came in, and trying to stay the darling of the family when Toby came."
Sarah smiled slowly. "The Labyrinth was the best thing that happened to me."
"I thought you hated it."
"No, I hated the running of it. I loved the Labyrinth itself. And there I found a new family."
"Oh, really? Who became whom in this?" Now it was defiantly not sounding like Hoggle, but there was nothing to be afraid of. I didn't mind if others heard. It made sense.
"Sir Diydimus is my dad, because he cares, unlike my real one, Ludo is my big brother, because I can talk to him about anything, Merlin and Amber (Sarah's pet name for Sir Diydimus's noble steed) are the family pets, and Toby is my little brother.
"Isn't there anyone else?"
"Like who?"
"What's Jareth?"
Sarah's smile went away, and her answer was little more than a whisper. "He… he's my first love and heartbreak."
"He was what?" Hoggle's voice was a whisper now, but Sarah was still not caring.
"He was the only one who, even if didn't really care, offered me love. My mother didn't bother to give me any. My father's flow stopped when I was six. Toby was to young to know what it was. You and my other friends became my friends because I said we were friends. But Jareth… He offered me everything for no reason, just because he wanted to know if I would be happy with it. He offered my dreams, which had changed since then, but still…"
"…Do you still love him…?" It wasn't Hoggle's voice, and it was much closer, but Sarah wanted it off her chest. She hated this feeling having to be locked up.
"Yes. Very much so."
There was a deep sigh, filled with relief, and something, else, but Sarah felt herself drifting back to sleep. She dreamt of such pleasant things, dancing with a person that she knew she knew, but couldn't quite remember his face; she was running, but it felt great. And then she slept more. She was swimming with the faceless man again, and he swam close to her, and his lips almost touched hers… And then She was flying; beautiful wings the same color as her hair took the place of her arms, and her body was covered in feathers, and she flew next to a large white bird.
And she dreamt…
………….
Sarah yawned. The light from the window reflected off her mirror, and onto her face. She turned over in her bed so that her face was looking at the wall. It was Saturday, and her dad, Ilene, and Toby were going to look at pre-schools. She had the whole day to herself, so Sarah smiled and snuggled further down into her blankets. Maybe she could invite her family over for the afternoon…
Something light bumped her nose. Sarah sniffed. Another one hit her ear, and Sarah rubbed it. Another one landed on her cheek. Sarah was getting annoyed. Growling, she sat up in bed and opened her eyes
to see her room filled with bubbles.
"…What…the…hell?" muttered Sarah. They were flying all around her room, sending bright flashes of multicolored light off their surfaces. As Sarah watched, they kept filling to room. They fell hundreds on top of hundreds, until they were all Sarah could see. They covered her sight, filled her eyes with pictures in the bubbles. After a moment, they converged into one massive bubble. Through it, Sarah could see a beautiful room, filled with dancing couples, but in beautiful masks with jewels and beautiful dresses and clothing. And Sarah reached out
and walked through.
And she found herself on the outside wearing a purple dress with long gloves on her hands. A silver pin held her hair up in a lovely coiffeur. Designs in gold traced up her dress, making it look like a wearable picture. And the other dancers were all wearing jewel tones. Greens, blues, reds, pinks, every color imaginable danced throughout to room. It was all dark, letting the people in the room glow. Everyone except her.
Her outfit was plain when set up against the other dancers. She felt like no one noticed her as walked through the room. People didn't even look at her as she pushed past dancing couples, and she felt invisible, like she had all her life, only there was no family with her.
Sarah had never felt more alone in her life.
And then someone reached out through the crowd, held out a gloved hand for her to take… and Sarah reached out and almost took it…
Until she heard a child crying in the background, alone and forgotten. And she turned and ran towards it, remembering her own feelings when she was alone, when there was no one there to comfort her. She pushed through the crowd until she found the chair where the child sat sobbing. But as Sarah reached out to comfort it, it looked up, smiled at her, and disappeared.
"You always did leave me at the first sign of distress from another creature."
Sarah turned. There stood a man, with wild hair and mismatched eyes, who was smiling cruelly… But his eyes seemed sad.
"You never bothered to go help them yourself," retorted Sarah, trying to inconspicuously look for a way out if things got messy (as they always did when messing with Jareth).
"They aren't mine to help. I am their king, meant to be cruel and unreachable. Rather like a god. It's the queen's job to be the angel amongst the people," said the Goblin King calmly.
"Then why do you seem sad about it?"
"Why are you lying about me?"
"I…" Sarah couldn't say anything. "How… how…?"
Jareth began to slowly walk towards her. "Whenever you read to your brother and your voice draws the creatures of the Labyrinth to you, I, as another creature of the Labyrinth, am drawn to you as well."
"So…so… whenever I read…" Sarah staggered back.
"Yes. I was always there." Jareth slowly walked forward.
"But…when I talked to Hoggle…" Sarah backed into a table.
"I would hear you." Jareth stopped walking towards her, but still held her gaze with his eyes.
"But I never saw you-"
"I never meant you to."
"So last night, when I was talking to Hoggle-"
"It wasn't Hogbert."
Sarah didn't want to think. She was far too… embarrassed? Frightened? Angry? All of it? Jareth confermed her suspicions.
"It was me." Sarah collapsed into a chair by the table and buried her head into hands. She began to shake, trying to hold back suppressed tears, but without much success.
"You collapsed right after everyone left, but I stayed just for a little longer, just to watch you, just like I always do."
Sarah lifted her head. "What?" Jareth knelt in front of her, and took her hands.
"Every night I watch you change your clothes in the closet, I see you brush your hair, fifty times every night, I see you apply your facial cream (whatever the hell it does), I see you sit on your bed and bounce on it just a little, and then I watch you fluff your pillows, and try to get under your blankets without wrinkling the sheets, so everything looks like you never slept in it the next morning, and then I see you turn out the lights… and then I leave."
"You see all that? You memorized all that?" Sarah didn't know whether to be touched or worried. She had a stalker on her hands.
"More or less." Jareth gave a wiry smile. "But last night, as I was leaving, you mumbled in your sleep, so I listened. And I asked questions. And I heard-"
"You heard what?" interrupted Sarah. What if he had heard? He was going to laugh so hard when he said it. He was going to toss her love aside, just like she had tossed his aside.
"Everything."
"Damnit." Sarah sighed. "So get it over with already. I'm ready."
"Aright then," said Jareth, and he pulled Sarah up with him.
"Wh-what are you doing?" asked Sarah. This was not how he was supposed to do it. He was supposed to laugh really cruelly and tell her-
"Come dance."
"Beg pardon?"
"Come dance with me." Jareth pulled her close to his body, he put his arm around her waist, and put her other hand on his shoulder. He drew her out into the body of dancers. He circled round and round, with her in his arms. Sarah was confused and had no idea what was going on, and she knew that he knew about it. He knew all to well, but he kept looking at her so gently. So Sarah kept herself braced for the final cruel blow that she knew was coming. But it never did. She just kept her eyes closed as they spun round and round.
"Sarah…" Jareth's voice whispered next to her ear. "Did you mean what you said?"
Sarah trembled, and she didn't know why. "Y… y…yes." Sarah felt Jareth smile against her cheek. He pulled his head back and gently stroked her cheek to get her to open her eyes. She eventually did, although she expected nothing less than to see the flames of hell rise around her. Instead she saw Jareth's mouth dangerously close to hers.
"Sarah…"
"Yes?" she whispered.
"I love you too." And his lips touched hers.
………….
She opened her eyes to find herself back in her room, devoid of bubbles entirely. And there were no dancers, no dress, no colors, no Jareth, no nothing. And it infuriated Sarah. She jumped out of bed snarling, and stomped over to her mirror.
"You damn bastard, Jareth! I'm going to crash every mirror in this house, and spend the rest of my day alone in this house and not think of you AT ALL!!" She picked up the vanity stool, and prepared to hurl it at the glass-
But a hand grabbed her arm, pulled her around to face her assaulter, and she found her mouth crushed against the lips of someone that she wanted to feel all over her.
Jareth pressed her face against his as he put his hands in her hair, and kept her against him, and Sarah fisted her hands in his already wild hair. Jareth kissed her all over her face, kissed her open palm, then kissed her mouth again.
When he was done, she looked at him, at the raging passion in his eyes, and she knew that he wanted to be with her as much as she had longed to be with him. She sighed in contentment.
………….
They were sitting downstairs on the couch, with Sarah lying in Jareth's arms. She smiled up at him, and he smiled back and took her hand in his.
"You know, Sarah," he said as he bent his face to kiss her mouth for the thousandth time. "I could really…" he kissed her again. "Get used…" Again. "To… dear God, you smell wonderful."
"Thank you. Since I haven't brushed my teeth yet, I'll take that as a miracle. Or it could just be the fact that you're love stricken."
"Perhaps. It's a first, but that could be it." Jareth looked thoughtful for a moment. "Sarah, how old do you have to be to be married?"
"Here?" Sarah looked surprised. "Umm… eighteen. Why?"
"Would you like to marry me when you come of age then?"
Sarah sat up straight and looked Jareth straight in the eyes. "What?"
"Will you marry me?"
"Not when I turn eigteen!"
"Then when?" Jareth demanded. Sarah thought for a moment.
"Umm… I'd like to go to college… So when I graduate college, I guess."
"When will that be?" asked Jareth. "I can speed it up so that we're already there."
"But then what's the point of going to college?" asked Sarah. "I want to experience life here for a little while longer. I want to be able to spend Christmas with you and Toby before we go to the Labyrinth. I want you to be able to experience life with me her for a few years as my boyfriend and fiancée her for a few years, and then have a wedding ceremony here, and then have a formal one in the Labyrinth." Sarah looked at Jareth. "I want to be able to be yours, and not also the kingdom's for a little while."
Jareth smiled gently. "Then that's what we'll do.
The front door opened and Sarah's dad, stepmother, and younger brother walked through the door.
"Sissy!" Toby saw Jareth gave a huge smile. "DANCE!!"
"Toby what…" Ilene saw Jareth. "SARAH!!! EXPLAIN YOURSELF RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY!!!"
"I wouldn't mind if you fast forward through this, though," said Sarah.
"Oh, but I thought you wanted to experience this, my sweet," said Jareth mischievously. Sarah's eyes narrowed. "Ooo, I'm gonna get you good, Jareth. Just you wait and see."
"I know you will."
So there it is. Question: Should I put some lime in there, or not? Lemme know. Please read and review! Positively, I hope. Flames welcome, just don't go overboard.