Part 5
Rating: M
Thanks so very much to knifeedgefic for the super-speedy beta, and, as well, to lightup_tea and for their feedback.
Cross-posted at Labyfic.
Advent
Part 5
That secret made the next year pass really quickly. School was great. I kept on growing taller - my mom said it was getting a bit ridiculous, really, and where had that come from in the family tree? I also started going out with Debbie Applebaum. We had some good times and some not-so-good, because - what do you know? - it turns out girls are kind of complicated.
I bet Sarah could have told me that. But I hadn’t heard from Sarah since the previous December.
Oh, I overheard plenty of Mom and Dad’s conversations about her. Sometimes they’d talk like I wasn’t even in the room. They worried that Sarah was working too hard, that she’d never find a husband, that she was too sad after breaking up with Bill, or Greg, or whoever she had broken up with, and on and on.
Through it all, I kept my secret close to myself. It was like a magical door that I could carry around with me 24/7.
The real door was still amazing when it appeared early in December. This one unfolded like a rose on my wall - except it was the deepest, darkest purple. When I saw it shimmer and bloom into straight lines and angles, I couldn’t help but think of kings and queens, and all who might have worn purple through history. That showed I was probably focusing too much on Ancient Greece and Rome in school, but oh well.
Jareth opened the rose-door and walked right through with his head held high. I wished that he was wearing a crown.
“Hey!” I jumped up from my desk.
He threw out his hands and swirled his cloak into a fancy bow. “My greetings to you, Tobias.”
I felt my face split in a grin. “Will I have to know how to do that if I’m a prince?”
Jareth grinned back. “That, and a thousand other things. Come along.”
*
We ran in the forest, just as we had in so many years past. I hardly noticed the magic on me at all, now. It helped that I didn’t talk much - just ran and jumped like it was what I had been born to do.
Then we had a fire. I had crammed some marshmallows into the pockets of my jeans - I was glad to see they hadn’t been vaporized by the trip to the Labyrinth, or gotten evaporated because of some magical Prime Directive or something. Jareth tried one, eyebrow raised, and then I snickered at his expression as he spat it out.
“It is no laughing matter, Toby,” he said with dignity. “I cannot be blamed if a sweetmeat disagrees with me.”
“Funny; I didn’t hear it talk.” I made a rim-shot noise; he sighed and threw the rest of the marshmallow into the fire.
Then he got up, grimacing. “Even I have to eat occasionally. And it is unfortunate that this is one of those times, Toby - I had not intended to have it take from our time together.”
The magic from before, the fire’s heat and the sugar were all combining to make me sleepy. “It’s O.K. Go get a sandwich from the castle and I’ll take a nap.”
“You will be safe, I assure you.” Jareth smiled down at me, gathering his pale feathered cloak around himself. “Prince of the Forest.”
I hardly heard his last words.
*
But I started awake with a yelp when I heard a scream.
I looked around, wildly. Surely the noise had been some animal - it had been really high and shrill, and then cut off all of a sudden.
The fire had died down to embers. It was chilly and getting colder. And I couldn’t see a single thing past the first tree or two. I squinted up at the sky. The moon was full; clouds scudded in front of it like they were running away from something.
“I could use a bit of that night vision now,” I said aloud, trying to work up my courage. I was perfectly safe. Jareth had said I would be …
“Jareth?” I called.
The woods were silent except for the wind, which was whistling through branches high up in the trees.
“Jareth!”
No answer.
All of a sudden I was afraid. Really, mind-bogglingly afraid - like I was perched at the top of a steep staircase or getting ready to duck beneath dark water at midnight.
“Jareth!” I admit it: I screamed. A bit. Just enough to work out my emotions. Debbie did primal screaming when she went to her mom’s drama class and she said it was really helpful to -
A branch snapped close by.
I jumped up and whirled around. Then I squinted, because in the darkness of the woods I saw something glimmering.
“Toby?”
Relief hit me hard - it was Jareth’s voice.
“What is it?” the voice continued. He was coming closer.
“Nothing really - I just was kind of worried that you had gotten eaten by a bear or someth -” The words dried up in my throat as I saw him. He was limping a bit. I noticed that he was breathing hard and that there was sweat on his brow.
And then, on the pale tunic beneath his cloak, I saw a lot of blood.
My voice quavered. “Are you all right?”
Jareth leaned against a tree, then looked at me quizzically. And then he looked down, hissed, and pulled his cloak tightly shut.
“Don’t do that, Jareth - if you’re hurt, I want to -”
“Toby.” His voice was rough around the edges. Kind of rasping. “I am in no way hurt.”
“But I saw all that blood!”
All was quiet … but then my skin prickled as I heard Jareth laughing under his breath, in the darkness.
“My dear boy - my fine feathered …” He tipped his head back and it lolled against the tree trunk. Then he spread his cloak wide open. “Ah, Toby. None of this blood is mine.”
I blinked once, twice, and then I started to feel queasy. “Um. So then - whose is it?”
He shrugged, smiling at me. He looked almost drunk. “A fine and faithful forest creature, whose body has been lain to rest in the leaves - and who joins his friends in the sky -” Jareth flung up one hand in a gesture at a star glittering high above us -
- I saw blood spatter on his face. My stomach lurched.
“Ah.” Jareth brought his hand back down, close to his face - then his mouth. And then he started to eat whatever he was holding, and it was all bloody.
I had a choice - talk or hyperventilate - and I wanted to show I wasn’t afraid. “Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to play with your food?”
He laughed. “No one ever tells me anything, Toby, that I have not already heard. For instance, a wise old man once said that I should honor the spirits of those animals hunted - and I do, as I have said.” He took another bite; I heard the crunch of gristle. “I place them in the sky for their sacrifice, or for their devotion …” Then he grinned at me. “Or for being exceptionally delicious.”
“Yeah, O.K.” I felt faint. “I think I want to go home now.”
Jareth’s brow furrowed. “But Toby, you’ve only just -”
“Really.”
He looked at me, considering. Then he shrugged. “Very well.”
On the way back, I tried to lengthen my stride without him noticing. Once or twice I thought he was about to say something, but he didn’t. The next thing I knew we were back in my room - and if I thought the blood looked bad in the darkened forest, it was nothing compared to how it looked, smeared on Jareth, in the light of my bedside lamp.
“So.” I avoided his eyes and sat down on my bed. “Um. Thanks.”
“Tobias.”
His voice was serious.
“Look at me.”
I dragged my eyes to his face. It was pale with a flush on the cheekbones and - my stomach roiled again - a smear of blood on his jaw. I looked up into his eyes, reluctant. They were shadowy.
“Even I have to eat occasionally, young prince.” Jareth raised his chin. “And you must know that the Labyrinth is not all sunshine and pastures. There are dark places in it, just as there are in the human mind and heart.”
“Yeah, but dark places aren’t always what’s for dinner.” I didn’t know what to say and Mom says I have stupid jokes as a default mechanism -
Jareth twitched his lips into a smile. Then he reached within his cloak, and oh shit he still had some of whatever-it-was left. He took another nibble, while looking at me. My skin crawled.
“Do you want to know what is for dinner, as you put it, young prince?”
I just stared at him.
“This,” and he lifted up his hand, “is a heart. If you eat the heart of any creature, you receive part of its spirit - its strength - its power.” Jareth’s eyes flashed. “You must know this, if you are to be prince in the Labyrinth.”
“Will I -” I tried not to barf. “Will I have to eat hearts, if I’m a prince?”
Jareth held out the remnants of the heart. “Aren’t you the slightest bit curious … to know how it tastes?”
I told myself later that this had been like a dream. So it was just a dream when I stared back at him, when I wavered and when I reached out and took a piece that he tore off for me. I brought it to my mouth; tried to chew without thinking.
It tasted weird. Mostly like blood.
Then the thought hit me and I choked, swallowing. “Jareth - wait - what kind of animal was that? I don’t want to - I didn’t -”
“Shh.” He tucked the remnants back in his cloak and caressed my hair with one hand. “It was only a deer.”
“Why a deer?” I was falling asleep.
Jareth’s eyes glittered in the lamplight. They were the last thing I saw, awake.
“Why, my dear? Why, for the pleasure of the chase, of course.”
*
I woke up the next morning and hoped it had all been a dream. Then I went to the bathroom and saw the blood in my hair.
I took a shower. Then I took another, shaking under the hot water.
And then I called Sarah.
Thanks so very much to knifeedgefic for the super-speedy beta, and, as well, to lightup_tea and for their feedback.
Cross-posted at Labyfic.
Advent
Part 5
That secret made the next year pass really quickly. School was great. I kept on growing taller - my mom said it was getting a bit ridiculous, really, and where had that come from in the family tree? I also started going out with Debbie Applebaum. We had some good times and some not-so-good, because - what do you know? - it turns out girls are kind of complicated.
I bet Sarah could have told me that. But I hadn’t heard from Sarah since the previous December.
Oh, I overheard plenty of Mom and Dad’s conversations about her. Sometimes they’d talk like I wasn’t even in the room. They worried that Sarah was working too hard, that she’d never find a husband, that she was too sad after breaking up with Bill, or Greg, or whoever she had broken up with, and on and on.
Through it all, I kept my secret close to myself. It was like a magical door that I could carry around with me 24/7.
The real door was still amazing when it appeared early in December. This one unfolded like a rose on my wall - except it was the deepest, darkest purple. When I saw it shimmer and bloom into straight lines and angles, I couldn’t help but think of kings and queens, and all who might have worn purple through history. That showed I was probably focusing too much on Ancient Greece and Rome in school, but oh well.
Jareth opened the rose-door and walked right through with his head held high. I wished that he was wearing a crown.
“Hey!” I jumped up from my desk.
He threw out his hands and swirled his cloak into a fancy bow. “My greetings to you, Tobias.”
I felt my face split in a grin. “Will I have to know how to do that if I’m a prince?”
Jareth grinned back. “That, and a thousand other things. Come along.”
*
We ran in the forest, just as we had in so many years past. I hardly noticed the magic on me at all, now. It helped that I didn’t talk much - just ran and jumped like it was what I had been born to do.
Then we had a fire. I had crammed some marshmallows into the pockets of my jeans - I was glad to see they hadn’t been vaporized by the trip to the Labyrinth, or gotten evaporated because of some magical Prime Directive or something. Jareth tried one, eyebrow raised, and then I snickered at his expression as he spat it out.
“It is no laughing matter, Toby,” he said with dignity. “I cannot be blamed if a sweetmeat disagrees with me.”
“Funny; I didn’t hear it talk.” I made a rim-shot noise; he sighed and threw the rest of the marshmallow into the fire.
Then he got up, grimacing. “Even I have to eat occasionally. And it is unfortunate that this is one of those times, Toby - I had not intended to have it take from our time together.”
The magic from before, the fire’s heat and the sugar were all combining to make me sleepy. “It’s O.K. Go get a sandwich from the castle and I’ll take a nap.”
“You will be safe, I assure you.” Jareth smiled down at me, gathering his pale feathered cloak around himself. “Prince of the Forest.”
I hardly heard his last words.
*
But I started awake with a yelp when I heard a scream.
I looked around, wildly. Surely the noise had been some animal - it had been really high and shrill, and then cut off all of a sudden.
The fire had died down to embers. It was chilly and getting colder. And I couldn’t see a single thing past the first tree or two. I squinted up at the sky. The moon was full; clouds scudded in front of it like they were running away from something.
“I could use a bit of that night vision now,” I said aloud, trying to work up my courage. I was perfectly safe. Jareth had said I would be …
“Jareth?” I called.
The woods were silent except for the wind, which was whistling through branches high up in the trees.
“Jareth!”
No answer.
All of a sudden I was afraid. Really, mind-bogglingly afraid - like I was perched at the top of a steep staircase or getting ready to duck beneath dark water at midnight.
“Jareth!” I admit it: I screamed. A bit. Just enough to work out my emotions. Debbie did primal screaming when she went to her mom’s drama class and she said it was really helpful to -
A branch snapped close by.
I jumped up and whirled around. Then I squinted, because in the darkness of the woods I saw something glimmering.
“Toby?”
Relief hit me hard - it was Jareth’s voice.
“What is it?” the voice continued. He was coming closer.
“Nothing really - I just was kind of worried that you had gotten eaten by a bear or someth -” The words dried up in my throat as I saw him. He was limping a bit. I noticed that he was breathing hard and that there was sweat on his brow.
And then, on the pale tunic beneath his cloak, I saw a lot of blood.
My voice quavered. “Are you all right?”
Jareth leaned against a tree, then looked at me quizzically. And then he looked down, hissed, and pulled his cloak tightly shut.
“Don’t do that, Jareth - if you’re hurt, I want to -”
“Toby.” His voice was rough around the edges. Kind of rasping. “I am in no way hurt.”
“But I saw all that blood!”
All was quiet … but then my skin prickled as I heard Jareth laughing under his breath, in the darkness.
“My dear boy - my fine feathered …” He tipped his head back and it lolled against the tree trunk. Then he spread his cloak wide open. “Ah, Toby. None of this blood is mine.”
I blinked once, twice, and then I started to feel queasy. “Um. So then - whose is it?”
He shrugged, smiling at me. He looked almost drunk. “A fine and faithful forest creature, whose body has been lain to rest in the leaves - and who joins his friends in the sky -” Jareth flung up one hand in a gesture at a star glittering high above us -
- I saw blood spatter on his face. My stomach lurched.
“Ah.” Jareth brought his hand back down, close to his face - then his mouth. And then he started to eat whatever he was holding, and it was all bloody.
I had a choice - talk or hyperventilate - and I wanted to show I wasn’t afraid. “Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to play with your food?”
He laughed. “No one ever tells me anything, Toby, that I have not already heard. For instance, a wise old man once said that I should honor the spirits of those animals hunted - and I do, as I have said.” He took another bite; I heard the crunch of gristle. “I place them in the sky for their sacrifice, or for their devotion …” Then he grinned at me. “Or for being exceptionally delicious.”
“Yeah, O.K.” I felt faint. “I think I want to go home now.”
Jareth’s brow furrowed. “But Toby, you’ve only just -”
“Really.”
He looked at me, considering. Then he shrugged. “Very well.”
On the way back, I tried to lengthen my stride without him noticing. Once or twice I thought he was about to say something, but he didn’t. The next thing I knew we were back in my room - and if I thought the blood looked bad in the darkened forest, it was nothing compared to how it looked, smeared on Jareth, in the light of my bedside lamp.
“So.” I avoided his eyes and sat down on my bed. “Um. Thanks.”
“Tobias.”
His voice was serious.
“Look at me.”
I dragged my eyes to his face. It was pale with a flush on the cheekbones and - my stomach roiled again - a smear of blood on his jaw. I looked up into his eyes, reluctant. They were shadowy.
“Even I have to eat occasionally, young prince.” Jareth raised his chin. “And you must know that the Labyrinth is not all sunshine and pastures. There are dark places in it, just as there are in the human mind and heart.”
“Yeah, but dark places aren’t always what’s for dinner.” I didn’t know what to say and Mom says I have stupid jokes as a default mechanism -
Jareth twitched his lips into a smile. Then he reached within his cloak, and oh shit he still had some of whatever-it-was left. He took another nibble, while looking at me. My skin crawled.
“Do you want to know what is for dinner, as you put it, young prince?”
I just stared at him.
“This,” and he lifted up his hand, “is a heart. If you eat the heart of any creature, you receive part of its spirit - its strength - its power.” Jareth’s eyes flashed. “You must know this, if you are to be prince in the Labyrinth.”
“Will I -” I tried not to barf. “Will I have to eat hearts, if I’m a prince?”
Jareth held out the remnants of the heart. “Aren’t you the slightest bit curious … to know how it tastes?”
I told myself later that this had been like a dream. So it was just a dream when I stared back at him, when I wavered and when I reached out and took a piece that he tore off for me. I brought it to my mouth; tried to chew without thinking.
It tasted weird. Mostly like blood.
Then the thought hit me and I choked, swallowing. “Jareth - wait - what kind of animal was that? I don’t want to - I didn’t -”
“Shh.” He tucked the remnants back in his cloak and caressed my hair with one hand. “It was only a deer.”
“Why a deer?” I was falling asleep.
Jareth’s eyes glittered in the lamplight. They were the last thing I saw, awake.
“Why, my dear? Why, for the pleasure of the chase, of course.”
*
I woke up the next morning and hoped it had all been a dream. Then I went to the bathroom and saw the blood in my hair.
I took a shower. Then I took another, shaking under the hot water.
And then I called Sarah.