4A/N: Ok. I am NOT a Sarah basher, but while most of us fangirls wouldn't mind being whisked away to Jareth's kingdom, Sarah doesn't quite share our views. Given their past history, can you blame her?
Disclaimer: I no own so you no sue.
Sarah woke up the next morning, feeling quite disoriented.
Where on earth am I?
Then, she remembered about her attackers from the night before.
An owl saved me. A white owl… Jareth!
She looked around the room carefully.
She was in a stone room that looked like something from the middle-ages.
Sarah was on a queen-sized canopy bed with silk sheets, a comforter, and hangings, all white. The bed was centred along one of the walls. Opposite her was an intricately carved wardrobe, seeming to depict images of all sorts of mythical creatures.
Long white drapes hung from the large window to her right, giving off a bit of a dream-like quality. There was a vase of flowers on a dresser next to her bed, and another on a small wooden table with one chair, topped with a silk cushion, near the window. There were three doors leading out of the room, one along the same wall as the bed at the very end where two walls met, and a second door along the start of the next wall. The third door was in the middle of the wall opposite the bed.
Did Jareth bring me here? Is this Jareth's castle?
Sarah got out of bed, still in her clothes from the night before, and went to the window to her right.
Looking out, her question was answered.
As far as the eye could see, there were stone walls in great twists and bends, like a giant rat's maze.
The Labyrinth. I'm back in the Labyrinth. Jareth, when I get close enough to you, you will wish your manhood was less of an obvious target.
There was a knock on the door, and Sarah turned around sharply.
"Come in." she said in an aggressive tone.
A female Goblin, about as high as Sarah's midriff, walked in, carrying something made of blue fabric.
"His majesty wishes to see you in his study, miss. He also has this dress for you."
The Goblin laid the dress out on the bed.
It was gorgeous. A light dress, almost like what one would imagine a faerie to wear. Medium cut neck-line, flowing sleeves, and Sarah estimated the skirt to be about floor-length. Under normal circumstances, Sarah would have been grateful for such a wonderful gift; however, these circumstances were anything but normal.
"I'll go see his majesty, but I am not wearing that dress for him."
"As you wish, miss. This way, please."
Sarah followed the girl-Goblin out of the room and down the left-hand hall.
After about thirty metres, which included a couple of turns, they came to a halt in front of a pair of large, double-doors.
"You may enter, miss."
Sarah didn't even knock. She burst right in, and Jareth, who had been sitting at a desk over a pile of papers, quill in hand, looked up at her in surprise.
"Sarah, what's wrong? Didn't you like the dress?"
"Listen here, you." Sarah approached, pointing at him threateningly.
"How dare you kidnap me like this? You have no right to just bring me here when it seems convenient to you!"
A look of hurt crossed Jareth's features, but was immediately replaced by anger of his own. He stood, and towering over Sarah.
"Now, you listen, missy: You were in danger of a fate worse than death. I rescued you. At your request, I might add. You were unconscious. I thought it best to get you somewhere so that such a situation would never arise again. You are safe from such things in my kingdom, where I can keep better watch over you."
"Maybe from most, but I'm completely at your mercy, and that doesn't feel much safer."
"I would never do anything to harm you, Sarah."
"Maybe not to your eyes, but to be forever trapped in this place…"
"My grounds are extensive, as you should know. You may go where you wish…"
"Exactly! In your grounds! It's still a prison! And I'd never see my family…"
Sarah stopped, choking on the last word, and let out a sob. She slapped Jareth across the face, turned, and ran out of the room.
Jareth watched her go, a bitter look of pain mixed with incomprehension on his face. He held up a hand to his slapped cheek.
I thought she'd be happy. She wasn't on speaking terms with her parents, she had no more friends. With me, she would never be alone.
The girl-Goblin was looking at Jareth apprehensively, awaiting further instruction.
"Go after her. Accompany her everywhere. Not stealthy. Be a friend. More important, make sure she doesn't go anywhere she shouldn't; she doesn't know our ways here."
"Yes, your majesty."
She turned and sped down the hall after Sarah.
She was actually telling me what to do! And she dared to slap me! Jareth thought, infuriated.
He selected an ornament from the mantelpiece and threw it to the opposite side of the room where it exploded in a shower of glass against the wall.
Sarah stopped at a large window, completely out of breath, and lost.
Now what?
"Miss! Miss!" She heard from down the hall she had just come from.
"What!"
The girl-Goblin eventually caught up, and stopped when she reached Sarah, just as winded.
"His… majesty… is… worried. He… doesn't… want you… to go… where you may… get hurt."
"Sure."
Sarah turned to the window and looked out, too infuriated to think properly.
The girl-Goblin stayed still for a moment, thinking.
"Is miss hungry? Perhaps miss would like to have some breakfast?"
Sarah turned around. She did feel a little hungry, it being around the right time for breakfast, but she was furious, and she had just come up with an idea.
"No." she lied "I just want to be left alone."
"Perhaps miss would like to go back to her room?"
Sarah considered this for a moment.
"Yeah. There's nothing better to do."
The girl-Goblin led her back to her bedchambers, and Sarah looked around, feeling depressed.
"Would miss like me to bring anything?"
"No. Just leave me alone. Get out."
The girl-Goblin looked at Sarah uncertainly, but eventually turned and left, shutting the door behind her.
Sarah then advanced to the bed, and collapsed on it, where she immediately started sobbing, burying her screams of frustration in her pillow.
The next few days, the girl-Goblin would come in three times a day with food, trying to convince Sarah to get out of her room.
Each time, Sarah would refuse the food, and refuse to leave.
Four days in to her 'imprisonment', Jareth came to her room in the evening.
Sarah had been sitting in the chair at the table by the window. She ran her fingers through her hair, which was not brushed and slightly sticky. Her clothes weren't in the best of condition either.
She had refused to brush and wash the whole time, even though she had discovered that the door on the left-hand wall in her room was a bathroom with all the necessary toiletries. It was a way of showing Jareth that she wasn't happy.
The third door, she had discovered, led to another bedchamber, which Sarah assumed to be Jareth's. Luckily, he hadn't been present when she had opened that door.
Suddenly, Jareth walked in without knocking, though Sarah was unsure if this was his being conceited as usual, or because of the tray he held.
After placing the tray in front of her, Sarah saw that it was laden with a couple of chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes covered in gravy, a mash that looked like a mix of squash and carrots, a golden filled with red wine, and a single, red rose in a small vase. She tried to keep her expression completely passive as she fought to not give in to her hunger and devour everything.
Jareth took in a deep breath and sighed as he looked her over, noticing how she had paled and developed shadows under her eyes in the past few days.
"Sarah, I've been told that you haven't been eating. This can't continue. I only want you to feel at home, here. If you would only allow yourself to get comfortable, you'd realise that you can be happy, here. Please, I know you have your pride, and I know you're stubborn, but this is one instance where giving in is not so bad."
Sarah stood suddenly and performed the one action that would kill two birds with one stone: show Jareth how angry she was with him, and remove the temptation of the food. She snatched up the plate and threw it against the wall.
"And what about your pride, Goblin King! If I gave in, it would greatly feed your ego, wouldn't it! What was it you said in the Escher room? To fear and love you?"
Jareth hardened his features against her verbal attack. She was right about his pride; he wasn't about to show her just how much this was hurting.
Sarah continued her onslaught, sounding more and more hysterical.
"So, you come in here without knocking with, ooh! A plate of food! How considerate! And what else? A glass of wine. Gee, I wonder what that's for?" She picked up the goblet and pretended to admire the scent. "So that I don't say no!" As she said this, she threw the wine in his face.
Jareth clenched his teeth, inhaled deeply, and then said very quickly,
"I see you need a little more time, I'll check on you later."
Just as he went out the door, the usual goblin-girl came in accompanied with another and cleaned the mess with astonishing speed. They left just as suddenly, closing the door behind them.
Sarah was able to hold ten more seconds after the door closed, and then, shrieking as she went, she up-ended the table, sending the vase of flowers shattering to the stone floor. She then tore the bedspread from the mattress and threw it to the floor. The hangings quickly followed.
Sarah then collapsed to the floor amid the pile of fabric and cried, wailing, not even trying to be quiet.
A few hallways away, Jareth was undergoing a similar fit.
His study was almost completely trashed, papers everywhere, broken inkwells staining the carpet, not one piece of furniture left in its place; apart from the bookcase, but that was because it was bolted to the wall.
The only difference was that he didn't cry. He wanted to scream at her, but tears weren't what he felt, now. He had already spent many over the years, lamenting her absence. But now that she was here, he was just mad at her. No, not mad; frustrated. He was frustrated that she wouldn't allow herself to be happy, and frustrated with himself for having such a short temper.
He could understand her bad temper under the circumstances, but he should have had better control over his. He should have been able to stay there and wait for her tantrum to run itself out so that he could talk to her after she had calmed herself down and make her understand.
But he wasn't able to. Because he had forgotten how strong-willed she was. One of the traits of her character that he admired, and he hadn't taken it into account. He had expected her to come to accept him and being here.
After he felt his anger simmer down, he got up and started making his way back to Sarah's room. He figured she must be past her tantrum, as well, and should be more reasonable. However, when he leaned against her door to ascertain if she was, indeed, past her tantrum, he heard her sobbing.
Jareth stood thinking for a moment, considering going in to try to comfort her, but then he gave himself a mental shake and backtracked until the first hall crossing, took a left, and took the next left to go to his chambers.
Jareth let himself go into automatic, thinking about as many inane, regular things as he could as he went through his nightly routine. He stood with his arms slightly raised as the two goblins that were his manservants quickly helped him out of most of his clothing, leaving only when he had nothing but his poet's shirt and breeches.
After they were dismissed, Jareth removed his shirt and exchanged his tight breeches for a loose pair of black breeches with a drawstring that he used for sleeping. He turned out all the candles that were in holders along the wall, apart from the ones by the bathroom door.
He entered the bathroom and started up the cold water to brush his teeth. Most under-ground dwellers still used the old-fashioned device which was used to wipe plaque off of one's teeth the same way if one were to use one's fingernails to scratch it off; this was accompanied by a white, distasteful, scouring paste. Jareth, however, and many others, had liked the aboveground invention of the newer toothbrushes and toothpaste and made the switch by using magic to bring toothbrushes and toothpaste down from above.
After finishing up, Jareth lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Sarah's sobs had stopped, but Jareth could still hear them in his head.
Why couldn't she love him?