Under the Ruby Trees

By Shimya

Inspired by The Labyrinth, which is copyrighted, and not by me!

:Note:

This is a REPOST originally titled The Price of Redemption, but it sucked so I tweeked it to make it better. If you have read the earlier chapters posted, like, a year ago, please re-read and re-review!

:Synopsis:

Sarah is a grown up and grown ups don't believe in wishes. But when Sarah finds herself thrown back to the Underground, there's more than Jareth waiting for her. The Labyrinth has changed and a tyrant Queen is making all the difference. Torn between love and hate, can Jareth find a way to protect his secret love when all he wants to do is hurt her?

A twisted romance.

Chapter One

The rain outside was rather depressing. The sky was a mess of black and grey clouds that seemed infinitely full of water that just continued to pour out to the Earth below, as if the sky was trying to drown the world. It had been like this for days- storming all day. Every now and then, lightning would shoot through the sky followed by a bellowing clap of thunder. Sarah had not enjoyed it one bit. In fact, Sarah hated it when it rained. Despite that fact, she couldn't tear her eyes from the window. The sky looked so beautiful and enticing when it cried, however sad it made her feel. It was her first day back home and things weren't as great as she had hoped.

"I hope you're feeling at home. I made sure Karen cleaned out this room for you…" Sarah jumped as her father leaned against the open bedroom door. "How are you feeling, honey?"

"Good." She smiled, for his sake. "It's just weird being back here."

"You're welcome to stay as long as you like. Divorce is never really easy and I know how hard it could be on you…" He scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to say.

Divorce. Such a nasty word. Sarah's nose scrunched up as it escaped her father's mouth. She cursed the retched man that created such an act. "I think I'll be okay. I shouldn't be staying long, just two or so weeks, until I find an apartment."

"He's keeping the house?"

Her house. He was keeping her house. She picked that house out after their honeymoon. It was hers for five years; now he was bringing in some other woman to take her place. Only because she was dumb enough to put it in his name because of his credit score. She sighed. "I guess so. Details haven't really been worked out yet. I mean…it was…sudden and unexpected."

Richard nodded. "I'm sorry sweetie. Karen is making dinner for the family tonight. She invited a few friends of hers over. You're welcome to join us."

She nodded and just as she began to unload her suitcase, a little boy ran through the door, pushing himself past his father. "Sarah! You really are here!" Toby yelled, throwing himself at the poor girl. She took him in her arms and smiled. "Hey kiddo."

"I saw your car in the driveway. Where's James?" He looked around the room. Richard cleared his throat, "Uh, Toby, go see if you could help your mom in the kitchen." With that, the eleven year old kissed his sister's cheek and skipped out the door. Sarah frowned.

"It'll be okay, honey." Richard said in reassurance. "I'll be downstairs. See you at dinner."

After he left, Sarah shut the door and sat on the bed, hiding her face in her hands. This was more difficult than she thought it would be. She was only twenty five and going through a divorce. The thought killed her. Five years of marriage straight down the drain. Five happy, lovely years- for nothing. She did not cry, she had no tears left to shed over her husband. She had gone on for months, knowing it was coming. She knew he was seeing another woman behind her back but she refused to accept it. Denial gets you nowhere, she knew that. But she just couldn't believe James would do this to her.

Looking up, Sarah noticed her old vanity. It was in the same shape she had left it when she moved out after graduating high school. Her reflection had changed a bit, though. Now, she wasn't wearing lipstick, or trying on tiaras, or reciting lines to her own reflection. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she had recited ANY lines from a play.

"Yes I do…" That night. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she rubbed her aching temples. Since then, she wasn't the same person she had been before meeting the Goblin King. However, being a full grown woman, Sarah believed that her 'adventure' in the 'Underground' had been nothing but a dream. How could she believe anything different? Unknown worlds and fairies and dwarves and big red furry monsters weren't real. And she knew better than to tell anyone about them all- they would have sent her to an asylum. Karen had caught her talking to her friends one night; talking to herself.

Of course, the little talk that followed didn't end well. Her parents just thought she was lonely and that talking to herself was the way she dealt with not having many friends. After her one visit to a therapist, Sarah never said one word to her mirror ever again… and the images of her Underground companions stopped appearing behind the glass. She became convinced that it was all a dream. She told herself she was acting childish, and that she should stop and just grow the hell out of it all.

But even so…She did notice that after her return from that strange place in her mind, she stopped caring for all the enchantment the world had to offer. She just became so…normal. She just stopped believing in fairy tales and later that next morning, she boxed up her toys and costumes. She boxed away her dreams…

There was a light knock on the door. "Come in." She sighed, looking over to see Toby peeking through, holding a box. "You okay, sis?"

She nodded, "I'm fine sweetie." Such a lair. But there was no reason to involve her brother. He probably didn't know what divorce was. "What do you got there?"

He came into the room and set the large box down on the bed next to her. On the top was an old stuffed bear. Lancelot. She picked it up and smiled. "Where did you find this?"

"It was in the attic with a bunch of your old stuff. I went to go get it for you since you're staying with us." He sat down next to her. "I thought it would make you feel better. Dad keeps saying divorce is hard."

She looked at him. "You know?"

"They keep talking about it in the kitchen. I may be a kid but I'm not deaf." He looked though the box himself and pulled out an old book, Where the Wild Things Are, and started flipping through the pages. "This stuff is really old."

Sarah laughed. "Thanks. I read that book when I was a kid, you know. Does that make me really old?"

"Yeah, but you're pretty for an old lady. Mom's friends are old too, but their faces sag…" He made a face. "They're really really old."

Toby stayed there with her and talked until dinner was ready. She felt better having someone other than her dad and Karen. Talking to Toby usually always made things better. Oh how she loved him…

However, nothing, not even Toby's precious company could prepare her for the little scene that dinner would bring about.

Her little brother wasn't lying when he said these women were old. Although they all looked like the normal middle aged housewives, they bickered and gossiped like old ladies, fighting for the title of nosey neighbor. Although it annoyed Sarah to no end, it wasn't her place to make comments about their insolence. That would have been rude.

"So, Sarah, what brings you back to this little old town? Are you visiting?" One of them asked. Sarah nodded. "I'm relocating- looking for new job opportunities."

"She's going to get an apartment somewhere in the city," said Karen, butting into the conversation, like she normally did. "Her and her husband are having some problems."

Sarah took in a deep breath and Richard looked at his wife threateningly. "Karen…don't you think you should go get that pie in the oven?"

But it was too late. Her father's save didn't work. "Oh my, I'm so sorry. You know, my first husband was a horrible man. He cheated on me with his secretary and waited until after he got to Mexico to write me a letter telling me he wanted a divorce. Are you two getting a divorce, Sarah?"

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, to possibly kill this horrible conversation, but of course Karen had to continue. "Yep. He wants a divorce. Kicked her right out onto the street…"

Toby looked at Karen with wide surprised eyes. "Mom…" He, like his father, insisted her to shut up.

"Oh dear!"Another woman gasped. "Whatever for? Were you not giving it up dear? Men don't like that sort of thing…"

Sarah threw down her fork, her food forgotten. "I really don't feel comfortable talking about-"

Karen once again spoke up. "Oh no. Quite the opposite, actually. Sarah can't have babies."

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Sarah stood, her hands tightened into fists at her side. The whole room was quiet, everyone staring.

"Excuse me." She threw down her napkin and left the dining room in a fury, opening the front door and striding right out, slamming it behind her.

No, Karen wasn't a bad woman, and Sarah agreed that contrary to popular belief, step-mothers were not as evil as young step-daughters made them out to be. But in all truth, that woman was so infuriating.

How dare she just blab that out to those strangers! It wasn't any of their business why James wanted to get a divorce. She stomped to her car paying no mind to the rain and jumped in, jamming the keys into the ignition. She wanted to get away. She thought coming home would do it but alas, she was utterly wrong. She remembered that the park always seemed like the perfect place to go when you're feeling like crap. So why not?

It didn't take that long to get there. It was just a few blocks away from her house, down the street. She remembered how she used to walk there on the weekends, and play dress-up there after school. After she got there, she just turned off her car and rested her forehead against the steering wheel.

"Please don't tell me I have more tears to shed…" She pleaded with none in particular. She could feel the sting of tears behind her closed eyelids. But she refused to keep crying like a child. She refused to act so weak. It was happening whether she liked it or not, there was no use in crying about it. Crying never changed anything.

Sarah stepped out of her car and with her hands tucked in the pockets of her blue jeans, she took a walk. But she knew that no matter how many walks she took or how long she alienated herself from people, the pain wouldn't stop. Not only had she been cursed to be barren, but she had a husband that let that one negative trait get in the way of what love they had for each other. They tried to have a baby for almost two years. When that didn't work, she tried to convince him to adopt but obviously that got her nowhere.

And now she was alone and it wasn't fair.

Sarah sat down on the rain kissed grass, under a giant oak tree. Just thinking about it all made it worse. She didn't notice that she had let the tears go already. The rain kept washing them away. It wasn't fair… She wanted to say it out loud. She wanted to pout and cry and scream. She wanted to stomp her feet until she got her way. She wanted her husband back. She wanted her life back.

"It's not fair…" She whispered. "It's just not fair." And she cried. She sat there and cried with the sky for God knew how long. Her sobs just kept coming. And for hours all she said, over and over again was, "It's. Just. Not. Fair."

"Life never really is, now, is it Sarah?"

She gasped and yanked her head up to see no one there. But she knew better. 'He isn't real, Sarah. Stop it…'

But what if it was him? What if he was there, watching her? Sarah mentally slapped herself. No. It was a dream. And even if it wasn't why would he have waited so long to torment her with his tricks? He wasn't real. He was only in her mind.

Unless…

She looked up to the sky, the bleak picture only darkening. "I wish…" She began, but did not finish.

And out there, somewhere, the goblins all stopped to hear her plea. They stopped and listened for her to finish her wish. They listened and they waited.

"I wish the goblins would come and take me away…"

"Finish it…" They whispered. "Finish it…" She could hear them; tiny voices ringing, telling her to wish herself away…would she listen? Would anything really happen?

"….right now…"

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