Chapter Two: A Cold Wind Blowing

Jareth flew another uneven circle around the Williams' property. He could not recall a time in his life when he had ever felt so utterly drained. His wing beats slowed and he began to lose altitude. He couldn't go on like this; He simply could not. The white barn owl tried to land once more in the tree he had been perched in earlier, but fell short, his freezing wings giving out at last. Unable to properly correct his flight path, and to stiff and weak at to even hold out his wings and glide, Jareth simply slammed into the snow covered ground. He shifted feebly then lay still, disoriented. Shock quickly set in, finishing what the cold had begun, numbing his body and mind completely. His large, mismatched owl eyes slid closed slowly. He wouldn't fight anymore, he couldn't. The once mighty Goblin King lay on the snow covered ground as night fell and heavy wet snowflakes began to fall from the dark storm overhead, he let his consciousness slip away and fell into blissful nothingness. There, at least, he would not know himself to be freezing to death in a world far from his home, trapped in a form that was not his true one.

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Sarah trod carefully through the snow which had formed a new layer over the former layer, hiding all but the deepest footprints, and smoothing all other interruptions of the perfect white planes to perfection once more. She gazed down the street, taking in the sight of the houses all in a row, looking like little gingerbread houses with their holiday trimmings iced over by the fresh snow. She smiled softly at the childhood memories the thought evoked. 'There can't be anyone who doesn't fondly remember their early Christmases,' she decided. Her thinking was rather idealistic she knew, but still… She believed that Christmas should be wonderful for everyone, no matter who they were or what they did the rest of the year. The whole Christmas period was meant to be filled with joy and family. Everyone deserved to be happy during a season like that.

Sarah reached the back of the garage and easily un-stacked an armload of wood from the large stack. She gathered it securely into her arms and walked back to the porch. Opening the door skillfully with one elbow and went inside. After placing her load neatly in the wood bin by the hearth she took a moment to warm herself in front of one of the heating ducts. 'Thank the lord for central heating' she thought as she felt her fingers begin to thaw. She'd only been out there for a short time and already she was more than just chilled. Resisting the growing urge to just curl up on the couch with a warm blanket, she pulled her gloves back on and walked back to the door. 'I just have to get one more armload. Then I can stay inside all night, drinking warm eggnog and playing "Go Fish" with Toby in front of the fire.' Sarah reassured herself strengthening her resolve against the strong wind that battered her, now accompanied by flakes of snow and sharp pellets of sleet. The tiny pieces of ice stung the exposed skin of her face and she ducked, raising her shoulders so that her collar rose up above her nose like a turtle retreating into its shell. 'I better make this quick, the storm's really coming in hard and I doubt I'll want to be out her for much longer.' Much longer, who was she kidding? She didn't really even want to be out here now. Sarah listened to the indefinite crunch of the snow, feeling the thinnest layer of sleet-formed ice give way first, just before the snow began to give way, crunching softly itself. Effectively there were two layers on the ground, making steps crunchy and uneven.

Sarah was focusing or making it to her destination, and not really watching where she was going, despite keeping her eyes on her feet. Just as she was glancing up once again as she had been, to make sure she was still leading straight for the garage, when she felt her toe bump something much firmer than the snow, but with much more give than the forming ice. Looking down she spotted a small rise in the snow at her feet, only a few inches at most. Something was buried in the snow at her toes. 'Toby must have left one of his toys out here before the snow. Maybe it's a stuffed animal? He better not have left Lancelot out here! Sure I love him and I let him play with Lancelot, but I've told him to be careful. Lancelot's an old bear, he needs to be treated gently. Toby's usually so good about things like that; I hope he didn't forget him out there.' Toby did indeed often tote around the small bear, along with many of his other toys, ranging from a Barney plushy to a red plastic fire engine. Sarah sighed and squatted down in the snow, trying not to soak her knees of backside. She brushed off the layer of ice and grabbed a hold of the object under the snow. She began to pull it out then stopped, dropping it abruptly and shrieking at what she found as the snow shifted away. Now exposed, feathers moved stiffly by the harsh wind, was the limp form of a white owl.

Sarah's immediate reaction was to flee. She had seen the Goblin King transform into a man from a white owl that night that he had come to nursery; and after she defeated him she had seen one fly off into the night. What if he was after her again, what if he'd come for Toby? Panic flickered through her mind, freezing her in place. She could not move, could hardly even breathe for the fright which consumed her. Desperation to protect herself and Toby took over and she was able to stiffly push herself to her feet and back away. Only a few steps away however, she stopped again. Logic crept into her mind and whispered its soothing words of reason. It was just an owl. 'But then again, things aren't always what they seem,' Sarah reminded herself. She warily stepped closer again. The hand she reached out trembled with her frantic emotions. Her gloved fingers made contact with soft white feathers and the limp form did not so much as twitch.

Sarah let out a breath that she hadn't realized that she's been holding. 'It's only an owl,' she chided herself. She wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting to happen, maybe for the owl to suddenly hop up and transform into the smirking, wild haired king who had stolen her brother. No, the bloody feathers remained unchanged.

"Poor thing," she whispered to herself as she smoothed the slightly rumpled feathers in one clean patch, carefully avoiding the bright red blood. 'So sad, for such a creature to die out here all alone in the cold.' She lifted one of the wings, intending to inspect the beautiful plumage. Suddenly she felt a click and pop under her fingers, realizing that the bones must be broken. Sarah jumped violently a moment later, dropping the wing when she heard a pitiful, cooing cry. "Oh my Lord!" she exclaimed. 'It's still alive,' she thought in wonder. Sarah noticed then just how bright and fresh the blood was, still spreading through the snow.

Jareth slowly began to regain consciousness. All he felt was pain and he let the cold pull him back under, seeking escape. Just as he was almost lost again, he felt a sudden stabbing pain in his arm…His wing? He wasn't sure anymore. The cry of pain was all reflex and instinct, beyond that he didn't have the strength for such things. Both unable, and unwilling to hang onto this hazy pain-filled consciousness, he slipped away once more, drifting farther away from the lands of the living.

Sarah knew she had to act quickly if she wanted to save the owl; if she didn't do something soon the small spark of life left in the owl would not last much longer, it might already be too late. She had always had a soft spot for animals, and said spot was making itself known once again, judging by the pangs of sympathy she felt in her heart. The air felt even colder now, seeming frigid enough to chill any living creature to the depths of its soul. The shower of tinny sleet had turned into thick flakes which the wind blew down at a steep angle, before dashing them violently into the ground. She quickly unzipped her coat pulling off her thick scarf and laying it on the ground next to her. It had been a gift from a school friend the year before and had been a joke at the time. The scarf was terribly large, wide enough to qualify as a shawl if it wasn't doubled over properly. Her friend had been learning how to knit and had been quite overzealous. She'd scarcely put down the needles to eat or sleep for a week. The result had been the multicolored monstrosity that now adorned Sarah's neck during the coldest months. Not thinking of the blood that would stain her scarf, she bent once more over the owl lying in the snow. Sarah carefully slipped her gloved hands under it and lifted it easily, gently setting it on top of the scarf at her side. She wrapped it up loosely, trying not to smother or greatly disturb it, and bringing the tiny bundled body up to be cradled against the warmth of her chest. She stood up unsteadily, bracing against the now howling wind, and unable to use her hands to help her rise from her kneeling position. She turned back to the house and hurried back towards the porch and the front door.

"Hang on Mr. Owl, I'm not going to let you die just yet!" Sarah muttered to herself as she trudged her way through the storm.

A/N: Hmmm, that's a little short I think, but I lost my manuscript a couple of weeks back and it's really bothering me. I just don't know where it went. I've become one of those people who freaks out over the loss of a pencil…. Given I've also managed to use the same mechanical pencil for two and a half years before the mechanical part finally wore out. I swear, I was gonna give it a proper burial and everything, but I finally just threw it out. XD This folder had most of my written Labyrinth stuff in it, including some really sweet sketches depicting Sarah and Jareth together as a barn owl and a black cat. (Yeah, that is kind of how I see them in my head. Honestly though, I don't know what else to associate Sarah with animal-wise. She strikes me as a cat personally.) I'm not sure what else was in there, but I don't think it was anything particularly important. The good news is that all the fanfic stuff was typed up to exactly where it was written, so none of that was really lost! ^^ The bad news is that last week I was working on a sketch I dug out from the summer of an archer, and it mysteriously disappeared the next day! DX I do not just loose stuff like that, and it's driving me insane!

Well, sorry for the rant, there's an update for y'all… (Holly crud! Did I actually just type Y'all!? *Shudders*) Please let me know what you think; I love to hear from other fans! Your opinions are very much welcome, no matter if they're nitpicky, or even entirely unrelated! XD (Seriously, if I've made some grammar error and you catch it, drop me a line and I'll be happy to fix it! ^^

Oh, and just for kicks-and-giggles (FYI): This chapter was somewhere in the middle of page 13 of the manuscript when I lost it! LOL

-Pinfeathers