Chapter 6: The lost and the lonely

The morning light that woke them was pearly and cold. Their hearts were beating wearily, their eyes fogged with sad love. Arms in arms they shared the chill; her open window let winter wind in. They'd been in Hell for almost a month, by now the Fae blood he had given her had faded and she was once again herself, and winter had come, full blast. Outside frost decorated the window, glittering in the sun's glow.

Sarah laid across his chest, Jareth played with her hair for a while, humming low and deep. She could feel the sound rumbling deep within him, like his own kind of magic pulsing with his blood and his voice. She hummed along when she could place the melody. After a while, when the cold was too sharp to bear Jareth stood and shut the window.

He turned to look to Sarah and he picked her up. "I need to tell you everything I've done."

She nodded. He put her down. She went to her closet and came out dressed in a pair of jeans and a baggy white T-shirt.

"Okay," She said. "Tell me."

"It may be easier," He whispered and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "If I just show you."

She frowned slightly. Jareth cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to kiss her. But this time when their lips met the world flashed too bright for her to see. She could still feel his mouth, his body against hers but it was a distant sensation that she couldn't feel directly. Then the world shattered around her and she could see Underground. It was only the Labyrinth of course, the only bit of Underground she knew, but it began to change, the landscape turned a very bright, crayon green, the great maze turned to a maze of foliage, like an extensive garden maze. The castle in the far grounds was many sizes larger then his castle, made of dark stone with tall towers. She was blown on the wind toward this castle, and beneath her the High City of Underground was hushed, no citizen stirred from their homes and the brave ones who did only watched the castle with a dreading fear in their eyes.

"What's going on?" She whispered. She was blown speedily toward the castle and she recognized what it was that was terrifying them. From every window and every door she could see the floating remains of magic. It sunk from the castle like blood from a dying animal, every orifice leaking with it. But it was not a healthy magic, it smelled like blood, fogged the air and clung to everything, leaving its thick residue everywhere.

She was tugged by an unnamable force into the castle through a tower window, and she soared unseen like an apparition through the halls. She could tell she was coming close to the source of the magic when the dispensed deposit grew thicker in the air where even her spirit struggled through it. She came to a tower room; the door was locked with many padlocks. But she just flew through it.

Once in the room she was witness to one of the most terrifying scenes she had ever seen. The stone walls were blood streaked; there were no windows to shed light in the room, only a torch in the corner of the room that shed a harsh yellow glow over the only person in the room. This person was laying on the floor, covered in blood, and layer upon layer of strange dark music. He hardly moved, and any of the small movements he did make sent spirals of stray poisoned magic everywhere, sporadically bouncing off the walls, trying to escape. She focused on the hazy details of the man the magic surrounding him making it difficult to tell. But as she moved closer, she saw the strong features, the smirk of a mouth, though it was now drooping and weak, and the rest of his features were without his ordinary luster. Jareth was much younger it seemed, not nearly as confident as he should have been. Sarah's ghostly form hovered delicately above him, watching as he sat, in a reposed silence. He coughed and the sound shocked her, she gasped unintentionally.

"Who's there?" His wide eyes glittered but the glow was sickly and he gazed about the room around him. She had never seen him so terrified. He thrashed at the air with an arm that was shackled to chains that ran in circles around his feet. He came nearly very close to Sarah.

"Jareth, don't be afraid, it's me." She whispered, hardly certain he could even hear her. She was after all only looking at the past wasn't she? The brush of his fingers across her legs proved she was indeed somehow in the past, and she was as tangible to it as it was to her.

"I can hardly see you, whoever you are anyway." He grumbled and his arms ceased their flailing and dropped to his sides. It was a defeating stance that made Sarah almost angry; Jareth was never one to give in to defeat.

"I am Sarah," She said, for the moment able to calm her irritation to kneel down beside him. "Sarah Williams." She held out her hand to shake his.

He stared at it for a moment, an expression that was beyond unreadable on his face. She titled her head and waited until his hand tentatively grasped hers. His touch was gentle, quivering, and very warm. Alarmingly warm, she realized. She moved to put her hand on his forehead and he jumped backwards, nearly colliding with the stone wall. But he calmed instantly when her hand rested on his forehead.

"You have a fever!" She said, her tone making him wince. "Sorry dear." She said, her voice automatically softening to a tone that an infant could be lulled to sleep with.

He was watching her with that look she couldn't decipher again, intently, like she was some strange angel that appeared out of nowhere.

You did appear out of nowhere you big dummy. She thought and mentally kicked herself silly.

"Where did you come from?" He asked.

Honesty? Or misty gibberish fun talk to make him think you're super magical? Sarah smiled slightly. "The future." She said. Honesty out-ruled magical awesomeness.

"Ah," He sighed a little. He still hadn't let go of her hand. "That's why you aren't afraid of me."

"Oh believe me, I'm afraid of you, but not in the way you're thinking." She said and laughed.

"I don't follow."

"I didn't lead."

He frowned, either quite confused or very, very irritated.

She found herself wiping the damp hair out of his eyes, smiling gently, an unconscious reaction to loving him.

"Why are you here?" He asked her, the grip on her hand was growing stronger.

"I came to see your past, you didn't have the right words to explain whatever mistake you made so you sent me here…I am not exactly sure how." She said.

"Why would I ever want to tell a child like you what I have done?" He asked, his voice growing stronger, his features developing strength as well which pleased Sarah.

"I'm not a child Jareth," She said and moved her free hand to touch his lips still when he began to protest. "And," Her courage almost scampered away to hide but she caught it and bound it fast to her heart. "I love you." She leaned forward and kissed him, gently.

When she pulled away she gasped. Jareth's eyes had watered over, ready to burst and flood with tears. She had never seen him cry before.

"What is it?" She said frantically. "Have I done something wrong?"

He looked up at her and between the rivers of tears on his face she saw a smile break through. But it was a broken smile, full of hurt and loss and longing that needed to be quenched.

"How…" He gasped and cleared his throat. "How could you love me? After a murdered half of an entire kingdom?" He got up on his knees so he towered over her. "How can you not be horrified by me? Hate me child! Hate me for what I have done!" He grasped the sides of her arms; she gasped but did not cower from him even as his face leaned in close to hers, his eyes dangerous and animalistic.

"Jareth, how did you kill half the kingdom?" Her tone was soft, questioning, and unafraid.

He paused and shook his head, still clutching her close to him. "Because of this curse," He spat. "My blasted magic being too strong. I got angry child, when I am angry I am not a Fae you want to toil with." His threat was dark and honest but Sarah was too comfortable with him and burst out in little giggles and said.

"You're not nearly as frightening when you're angry as when you are horny." She blushed a little. "But Jareth, why are you in chains?"

"Why should I answer you? You are not taking me seriously." But he did not drop her arms and he must have seen the insistency in her eyes because he continued. "I have uncontrollable magic, child, something you may not be able to recognize." She ignored the sneer in his voice. "And I exploded one evening three years ago at a party. My magic went everywhere, destroying everything in its path leaving nothing to live, only dust and scattered bones." His words had gone ominously quiet. "I tried to escape to solitude, but my father found me and trapped me here, in this stinking palace to rot." He finally released her and se fell back unbalanced, hitting the stone wall.

He meanwhile had curled up in a strange squatting ball of Fae and chains, hardly visible beneath the layers of manacles. She heard him sigh and she let out a breath she did not know she was holding.

"They trapped you here to control your magic?" She said.

"No," He smirked and laughed loudly. "They trapped me here to try and contain it, no one can control it."

"Is it an evil magic?"

"Only the Devil and his son can have evil magic…what was your name? Sarah?"

She nodded. Her heart had done a fearful dance at the mention of the devil, but his smile proved a sweet distraction.

He whispered something; she listened closely when he whispered again. "Sarah…what a precious child."

She smiled. "You know Jareth," He looked up at her. "We all make mistakes. To sin is to be human, to forgive divine, and forgiving yourself is even more beautiful." She stood and walked across to him. She laid a hand on his shoulder, leaning down to kiss his cheek then she stepped away and was swept off again, feeling the world coming back to her. Feeling Jareth's lips falling from hers as she re-entered the world she came from, the time she came from.

Jareth held her while she slept. She was still in the past, the return a much longer process then the arrival. He had patience now, enough to wait a thousand years for her to be born, to grow, to learn everything she needed to. Not long after Sarah ad visited him in his vision, what he now realized was truly Sarah, not just a mirage; he was freed from his imprisonment from the tower. Something had changed in him that day, which had enabled him to contain all the sporadic forces of his magic and gain the ability to control it. With this talent there came the gift of creation and the Labyrinth was formed from this new found creativity. All were in the pursuit of worthiness for a dream-girl he never truly thought existed, an angel of mercy that had come to him in his darkest hour and blessed him with a winged creature called hope.

She stirred on his chest, but only drifted back into sleep, soft sleep that made his heart dance a speed to quick to measure then silence and fade into the spaces of feeling and infinite desires too sweet to sate. He waited for her to wake.

Sarah sighed. Sleep, she wanted more sleep, hours more, days more. But then a little voice inside her said: Jareth is here, and sleep became unimportant. It took her a moment of mind-clearing, sleep-dust brushing away to realize that Jareth was not there. She didn't dare open her eyes, and cursed herself for moving on the cold stone floor.

"I know you're awake." Irvus's voice was near her ear and her eyes opened. He stood straight and walked a few spaces away. She could hardly see him, cloaked as he was in the darkness. His form became a gloomy silhouette, barely accentuated by the dim red haze.

"That was cruel," She croaked. She could see and hear that he was breathing heavily, his body quivering with tension.

"After all that." He said. "After all that, you heard his damnable mistakes his murderous ways and you still loved him." He turned and Sarah thought she could hear the grind of his sharp teeth. He stood over her, a wide darkness she could see no detail from.

"After that, you still couldn't love me." His voice was like a child's, sad, desolate and empty. Sarah had never heard such bitterly agonized words before come from the mouth of such a cruel creature. But she would not let her pity sway her intentions. Or her love.

"Where is my family?" She managed to whisper. She tried to push herself up off of the ground and found she was not only weighted down by her bone snapping weakness but by a soft black gown. Beneath it she could feel a corset, tighter then most she'd ever worn and a few layers of undergarments. Against all her hatred for Hell and its ways, she had to admit the dress was lovely.

Irvus snorted. "Your family and the dwarf creature are all back and safe where they live. They have no memory of you."

Her heart lifted at the knowledge of their safety, only to drop many fathoms into woe at the idea that they no longer knew her. Even dear Hoggle and little Toby.

"Jareth?" This whisper was dry, without conviction, only pure fear.

Irvus hissed a sound that scared Sarah. It was a sound that only an animal could make. The 'animal' moved slightly downward 'til he was squatting beside her. At this distance the details of his face became clearer and something very deep in Sarah's heart broke at the sight. It was tortured.

She raised a hand, slowly, like you would raise a hand to pet a terrified kitten with sharp teeth. She laid it gently on his face and he leaned into her hand, burrowing his nose a bit in her palm to smell the heavenly scent of her skin.

"Why?" He whispered against her wrist where the blood could be seen grayish blue in the light. "Why do I need you? Why must I be evil and love one so…pure?"

She raised another hand to cup his other cheek and she held his face in the only light of the room and looked at him. Not only did she see his strong features, his perfect masculine jaw, his dark ocean eyes, but she saw the slash of agony that was his mouth, the crinkled bent lines of his eyebrows, the depths of years that lay in the waters of his eyes. It was strange and frightening. There was a pungent love in his face, a tingle of indefinably sweet emotions that she could see him struggling to contain. She sighed.

He echoed the sound. "I know that," His words were almost gasps, a fumbling of arrangements that blurred together. "I know that you will never love me. I am the child of evil and I know that no love can ever be felt for me. I however have loved others before. The Fae law doesn't affect me."

"Law?" Sarah asked.

"Perhaps law is not the proper word," His voice had grown lower, with a hint of husky tones as he mesmerized himself with the scent of her hands. "It is a natural disability for all the Fae, they can only love a creature romantically once in their lives. For me there was another, but my love faded in time as I saw that she was what others claimed her to be; a monster. In a way, I suppose I still love her. But… Since I saw you, I knew you would be the one I was to steal away." He paused and she could feel his jaw clench. Suddenly he placed his hands on hers and removed them from his face and let them fall free to her lap.

"I…will never ask you to love me. I'm selfish and evil. I will have you Sarah Williams. Regardless of your feelings and any objections thrown at me." His tone changed back to something much crisper and crueler then what she had heard before. She wondered then who it was he also loved, then a name, a face came to her and she saw in her mind what very well could save her. But there was ne more question to be asked.

"Irvus," She began. "Where is Jareth?"

Irvus did not hiss this time, he only smiled darkly, his eyes a guarded hurricane of shadows. "He is trapped," He said. "In a place one may call Limbo."

A solitary tear betrayed her and fell to the floor. Sarah felt her world crumble inside. Every tower of hope she had built for a life with Jareth, happiness in Underground, a family even was felled, all at the hand of a devil who seemed to be more then what he appeared to be. She laid herself back down on the stone floor and cried. Irvus vanished into the air and she was left alone.

Stay tuned to see what happens in: (Yet to be named) part two of Hell's Fire. Coming soon.

-Virgin Queen