In Love and War Chapter Five
Title: In Love And War
Author: waking_epiphany (Jamie)
Rating: PG-13...for now ;-)
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me; they belong to Jim Henson and Brian Froud.
Pairings: Jareth/Sarah. Duh.
Timeline: Five years since the end of the movie.
Summary: Five years after Sarah Williams destroyed the Underground and its king she finds herself once again fighting for the people she loves. A decrepit, crumbling carnival is the setting of Sarah and Jareth's final showdown for not only her friends' freedom, but Sarah's own. Is thirteen hours enough time for Sarah to solve the riddle of Goblin King's labyrinthine heart?
Author’s Note: Just a little warning for the inclusion of blood and general weirdness in this chapter. This part of the story takes a darker turn. But that's not to say that there isn't some awesome Sarah/Jareth moments! We see Sarah giving the King a taste of his own medicine, so to speak. Please check out this chapter's additions to the soundtrack. Please comment, I am desperate for validation and compliments ;-)
Cassandra Kane struggled against her bonds.
"You know that hairstyle is way out of fashion," she told Jareth nastily.
She looked around the sickly sweet cell for some sort of an escape route, but this big-haired, albeit it hot, psycho had appeared out of thin air. There was no flirting her way out of this predicament. Not for lack of trying, however. This guy was completely unresponsive and bored at her advances. When she figured that her looks would play no part in her escape, she quickly moved past formalities and began to struggle against her bonds and let her anger shine through.
"Oh, yes, being the slave to trends that I am, I am terribly concerned about that," Jareth said, securing the woman's restraints with magic.
"What is this place?" Cassie asked, peering through bars at the strange, dark prison.
The dark enclosure was draped in stained pink silk and lifeless roses. It smelled of sweets and dead things. It reminded Cassie of an old toy house, abandoned and rotten after years of neglect from a now grown up girl. Sometimes Cassie would catch a shadow moving across a wall but it was the sounds that mostly scared her. Sometimes it was high-pitched screams. Sometimes it was low, sensual moans. Other times it was soft weeping alternating with hysterical laughter. The sounds rose and rose into a such a maddening cacophony that Cassie wanted to scream out herself, just to hear something familiar and earthly.
"This is The Dollhouse," Jareth answered, standing before the woman. He was awe-inspiring, really, even to a girl who had been with so many men in her short life. It was the confidence, Cassie thought. It was his otherworldliness, the tilt of his head and the mysterious curve of his lips that held your attention. The crotch-hugging pants didn't hurt, either. They were simply criminal.
"It is a place of great magic all its own," Jareth explains, circling the girl in the chair. "It has the power to punish and transform those inside." She is comfortable enough, her hands and feet bound with reinforced scarves. But she still struggles. He knows she wouldn't struggle if she knew what was out in The Dollhouse, waiting to get in her gilded cage.
"It is a prison for women of my realm who have taken another person's life," Jareth says, leaning against the bars. "Murder is not tolerated in my world and those females who have engaged in such an atrocity are sent here. Men, obviously, are sent to another secure place in the Labyrinth but the women are sent here and subjugated to the magic of The Dollhouse. They are transformed into the very thing they used against others; an eye for an eye, really."
In the darkness, Cassie sees a shadow pass over Jareth's face as a figure approaches the bars. Hands grope at his fine clothes but he turns and issues them a glare and all Cassie hears is feminine squeals and the dashing of feet away from her cell.
"We do not execute our murderers. He let them fester here for all eternity, in the company of monsters like themselves."
"Are you, like, a real crazy person?" Cassie asks, her fear shifting. "That you actually believe everything you're saying? Or is this some big, colossal joke at my expense? Cause either way, I'm super pissed." She's not pissed anymore, not really. She's more terrified than anything. This man is menacing, yes, but she now hears the scurrying of skin against stone outside her cell again. There is something out there, some humanoid things, and they are laughing, laughing at her, and scratching to get in.
Jareth lets out a chuckle that does not sound humorous at all. "You should be glad that I am of a stable mental state, because if I was not, I wouldn't put you behind these bars."
"But I haven't done anything!' Cassie shrieks, struggling against the scarves. "Why do you put me behind bars if I haven't done anything wrong?"
"I don't put you behind bars to keep you in," Jareth says softly, leaning against the cell bars. Hands creep up behind him and try to tear at his clothes and grope at his skin. "I put you behind bars to keep them out."
Cassie watches in horror at the hands. She realizes that they are aren't hands groping at him; they are skeleton fingers, scaly talons and insect-like pincers. The groping limbs are alien in their appearance but womanly in their sensuality and their need to touch. Cassie screams and a sphere appears in the man's hand. He throws it beyond the cage and Cassie hears it shatter. Her scream echoes into many, but now the screams sound far away.
"Seven women," Jareth says, emphasizing the word, for lack of a better descriptor. "Have seven keys. You can't see it, but you have seven locks on your cage. As a precaution, I've given them all their own cage now as well. I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, especially our little heroine. All precious Sarah has to do it convince each of them to give up their key. She is just so good at convincing others to join her little causes; I expect her to have no trouble with this little obstacle."
Cassie stops her hysterics. There is something there, in the man's voice, that stops her.
"Say it again," she says, not pleading but curious now. She's adept at these things, and she's positive in what she's heard.
The man's sharp eyebrows crease in the middle. He's not used to people telling him what to do.
"Say what again?"
"Say her name."
She can tell he's angry. He rushes her, and for a moment, she thinks he might hit her. But he stops, his face inches from hers, and she can see all the fantastical aspects of his face. She sees the mismatched eyes, the sharply arched brows, the shimmery sheen of his skin, and she sees that it's all real. These things pale in comparison to that sound, and she needs to hear it again to be sure.
"Please indulge me. If you're going to tie me up and leave me here, especially if I've done nothing wrong, I just want one thing from you. Say her name."
It's such an insignificant request. He's been asked to destroy worlds and bring back the dead. It's such a small demand...and he loves how her name feels on his tongue.
"Sarah."
Cassie closes her eyes and shudders. A moment passes before she speaks. "I've waited my entire life for someone to say my name like you say hers. You're so in love with her you can't even stand it, can you?"
The man's face is an icy mask but Cassie knows she's nailed it. Someone who knows boys as well as her knows when one is attainable or not. Just because she's slept around doesn't mean she doesn't believe in love. In fact, it's only cemented the fact in her mind. Boys who are in love, really and truly in love, have a vulnerable determination about them. They wouldn't even look at a girl like her if they are truly in love. Whether they know they're in love or not is irrelevant; there is something about them, something resolute and unmovable, awesome and awe-inspiring. This man is so completely, madly, blindingly in love with her roommate that he is defined by it. She's never seen anything like it before and, despite the circumstances she finds herself in, finds it heartbreakingly beautiful.
"You better hope she saves you, or I'll let you rot here forever," Jareth threatens, though he knows he doesn't have the power to do so. "These bars cannot hold them back forever." He's so livid, he's tempted to let her and all of the others out of their cages to fend for herself against the rest of the Dolls, but that would be cruel and unusual punishment for someone who is simply a pawn in his and Ash's game. No, he'll leave before his temper gets the best of him. But this human girl is smiling at him, smiling like she has a secret of her own. He frowns. She grins even wider.
"Not if she saves you first, Blondie," Cassie smirks, and begins to laugh. Her laugh echoes throughout The Dollhouse, and she hears the others chime in along with her. They're all laughing at him and his stupid, insipid love and after a moment Jareth simply cannot take it anymore. He vanishes, leaving only sparkles and light in his wake, but soon after they fade, leaving Cassandra Kane in the darkness.
She doesn't feel like laughing much after that.
* * *
Sarah leaves the riddle tree behind, abandoning the clear, bright sunshine of the Labyrinth for the cold, dark reality of her own world. When she turns back after going through the archway she only sees the skeleton of a tree. The sprites turn back to electric lights, the leaves are gone and she is alone, so very, very alone again.
Somewhere a clock is ticking. She can't hear it but she knows it is running her time down, minute by minute. She imagines each tik-tok in Jareth's voice, echoing "pity...pity...what a pity...," and it spurns her on. She didn't need Hoggle. If he was so hurt by her actions, well, her inactions really, she could go on without him. She didn't really want to do this without him but she could. She could do anything as long as she was fighting Jareth to do it.
Sarah sat on a rusted metal mushroom, part of some sort of children's ride, and pulled out the tarot cards. She considered not using them, as they had just worked out ever so well in the Hoggle situation. But something told her that the portal opened up when she used the card and who was she to doubt something she had seen with her very own eyes?
She didn't speak her request out loud, but she thought it. She concentrated, hard, on who she should go after next. She shuffled the cards and, after a moment's deliberation, pulled one out. She flipped it over and the world swam before her eyes for a moment. Sarah clutched the edge of the mushroom, comforted by its immovability, and the moment passed. Shaking her head, she peered down at the card.
"The Seductress foretells that passion and romance await. Unbridled sensuality waves an irresistible spells. Her appeals draws in all that are open to her passion. A captivating beauty that stimulates foolish risks in those who seek her out. Beloved by all but loved by none."
Sarah had returned too many nights from the library to see a hair scrunchie around the doorknob of her dorm room to not know who this meant. She told herself all those nights that she slept on the common room couch would be worth it if she got Cassie back unharmed.
Right on cue, Sarah saw a light illuminate the darkness. It was further than she thought, further away than Hoggle had been, but if she ran, it wouldn't take long at all. She put the Cassie's card back in the deck and slipped it in her pocket. She buttoned her coat up against the cold and began to run.
* * *
Cassie shivered as another scream tore through The Dollhouse. The blond guy had only been gone for a few minutes, but already Cassie had let the fear get to her. She jumped at every noise, every hiss, every flash of light or skittering shadow.
What was that? She heard it, a low, chuckling voice, accompanied by the sounds of mechanical clunking. It began to be a pattern; the low, warm, decidedly masculine voice followed by a slow, metallic clanking of chains being dragged against cold, hard stone. It wasn't Blondie again, no. Blondie's voice was cold ice tinged with steel. The only time it warmed was when he was talking about Sarah. This male voice was honey that still held the promise of bee-stings. It was a proud voice, an entitled voice, a voice of power and slow-simmering rage. This voice was hot wax down cold skin and Cassie did not want it to come any closer.
But closer it came. She heard the voices get closer and closer and she knew that someone had let the Dolls out of their cages. She saw the shadow grow inside her own cage and knew he was standing right outside.
"To lock such a pretty bird inside a gilded cage is just criminal," the voice said. "Do come out."
The shadows moved, shifted, if on their own to better show off the man's face to Cassie, as if he moved the shadows himself. He is gorgeous, to be sure, but there is something feral in his appearance. His yellow eyes stand out in the dark, like a cat, reflecting the meager light in the prison.
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather stay here, thanks," Cassie said, no longer struggling against her bonds. She wanted them to stay out there and for her to stay in here, where she knew they could not touch her.
"It's not all the same to me," the man said, his hands, like claws, curling around the bars of her cage. Midnight dark hair fell over his ochre colored eyes, having come loose from his neat ponytail. "I have all my favorite girls here, set free from their confining cells. They want you to come out and play."
Cassie pushes herself backward in her chair, trying to get some distance between her and this man. She pushed her chair until her back was against the wall of her cell, but it wasn't enough, especially since, with a snap of his fingers, the bars ascended into the ceiling.
His figure was a column of absolute black against the darkness surrounding and Cassie could see the shadows moving again. They swarmed around him, enveloping him, pulsing like they had a life all their own. But now it wasn't just shadows. She saw bodies, writhing and undulating in an inhuman way. She was hyperventilating but she managed to choke out a few words.
"Listen, Ponytail. Let's just put my pretty bars back and talk about this. Blondie and I had a nice thing going. You and I can work something out. You'll find that I can be quite persuasive. And by persuasive, I mean that I have big knockers and I'll let you touch them."
Cassie felt dirty and unclean at her insinuation but she was just so, so frightened. The Dolls were at his back, cackling and moaning. The dark man smiled and laughed and it hurt; feeling his voice slide up and down her spine.
"Such a plain girl, made ugly by such filthy words," Ash purred, his harem moving ever closer to where Cassie cowered in the darkness. She could start to make our their hideous shapes. She caught a glimpse of a pair of dripping fangs, a naked bony spine, the gentle curve of a woman's thigh melded over a metal frame. "No wonder nobody loves you. Men use you and throw you away like refuse and you deserve it."
Cassie was sobbing now, hyperventilating, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. She could smell them now, they were so close. They smelled of cotton candy, motor oil, sex, and blood.
"But that will all change," the dark man cooed. With a flick of his hand, Cassie felt the bonds loosen and yet she couldn't find the strength to move. "My ladies would love to engage in an act of feminine bonding with you...I think your kind calls it a 'makeover.' I am just so excited to see how they transform you. I mean, look at you. An ugly caterpillar now, just aching to be that beautiful butterfly."
Cassie felt the Dolls' hands on her now, wandering and invasive. She felt a sharp pain and gasped as blood spurted from a gash above her sternum. Cold, impossibly strong hands clasped her wrists and pulled them roughly over her head. Another pair of hands held her feet. With the strength Cassie had left, she turned to her nearest captor and spit in her face.
"Oh no," Ash tsked-tsked. He stuck out his bottom lip like a stubborn child. "That was just so crude. I daresay you've made them mad. I'd love to stay and watch your metamorphosis but, the night is young, and I have much to do. Rain-check on that persuasive argument you propositioned earlier, though. Ta-ta for now."
He turned and the Dolls swarmed her. The girl's screams were so sweet, like birdsong to the High King's ears. He savored the sound until an ugly though crossed his mind. Technically, The Dollhouse was in Jareth's territory, the Labyrinth. He couldn't have his younger brother busting in and ruining all the fun, as his powers would be in full force when he was within the borders of his own kingdom.
Ash concentrated and, with supreme effort, pushed his hands outward from his chest. A dark magic pushed from within him and sealed the Dollhouse. It would keep his brother out of the prison, even though it was in his brother's realm; one of the perks of being High King. He couldn't have Jareth doing something stupid like rushing in to save his precious human. Sure, Sarah might die in here and Ash would win, but there was just so much time left in this night, and he wanted to savor the victory slowly. There was a certain perverse pleasure prolonging Jareth's misery.
Ash was thinking these pleasant thoughts when he suddenly was stuck down at the force he expelled from the magic. He pitched forward, skinning his knees on the rough hewn stone floor, heaving and holding his chest. He looked up, knowing he would lose some face if any of the women caught his misstep.
The Dolls didn't even notice; they were too enthralled with their new, pretty plaything. And the girl...well, the girl had too much blood in her eyes to see much at all.
* * *
Jareth felt the disturbance in his realm as he was finishing up the finishing touches on Toby's enclosure in the center of the corn maze.
"How do you get your hair so big?' Toby asked, as polite as could be. "Can we do my hair like that? Do you still sing? Could you sing me a song? I'll start." The boy starting singing and off-key rendition of some popular human tune as he walked in between the corn rows, weaving in and out of the stalks. The large, pudgy goblin Kweeble followed him, giggling and singing quite as much as the child himself.
"And mother asks me why I don't want children," Jareth said drolly, shaking his head. He watched as the simple-minded goblin chased the boy and the two went tumbling into the cornfield, having as good as a time as if this were a play date instead of a kidnapping. The Goblin King rolled his eyes, but he did feel a certain attachment to the child. He was funny and reminded him of Sarah in a way. He watched as Kweeble tackled Toby at the knees and the two went flying into the dust. As he was chuckling to himself, Jareth felt something flickering in the back of his mind again and he stopped his enchantments to concentrate.
Jareth sighed, trying to ignore the boy and concentrate on what exactly he was feeling. There was a definite shifting, a door being shut against him. It could be something back in the Labyrinth, something wholly separate from tonight's game, but he knew better than that. He felt his brother's poisonous influence spreading against Jareth's world; an inky-black smoke unfurling and choking Jareth's magic. In that moment he knew Sarah was in danger.
"Goblin!"
Kweeble immediately stood up from wrestling with Toby and saluted his master, his allegiance only slightly marred from the fact his aviator cap was cocked on his head, covering his entire face. Jareth reached down and straightened it so he could look his subject in the face.
"You keep an eye on the boy and make sure that when Sarah comes, neither of them are harmed. She needs to lose but I don't want come back and find them any less than what they are now. And if you see any sign of the High King, any sign, you call to me and I will come. Do you understand?"
Kweeble nodded vigorously. Unlike some of his kin, he loved the king and would do anything for him. He was only sometimes mean. He mostly looked after the goblins, let them have mead parties and chicken races. He felt a great honor in this task, and his chest swelled with pride that his master would trust him.
"Good," Jareth said. With a sweep of his hand he produced a beautiful crystal and spoke to it. After he was finished, the crystal floated above his hand like a bubble and, with a snap of his King's fingers, the crystal disappeared.
"I must fly," Jareth told Kweeble. "Remember your duty. I couldn't bear to lose..." Kweeble waited for his master to finish his thought but there was no more. The goblin watched as his mighty king transfigured into a striking bird of prey and take to the night like the whole world counted on his flight.
* * *
Snix hid inside a crumbling planter set outside the door of the dollhouse. She put a clump of dirt with a dead flower poking out of it on her head to hide herself from the Dark Man. She put on a brave front at first, and she was brave, for the most part. She had the record distance for being shot out of a cannon and could drink the most shots of grain alcohol down at the Pig's Poke, the tavern near her hovel in the Goblin City. Usually the shots of alcohol happened beforebeing shot out of a cannon, but that was besides the point. But the king's brother, The Ash Lord, was evil, that much Snix knew, and she hid because she was afraid of him.
So when she saw her master's calling card, an airy crystal undulating in the wind toward her, she poked her head to grab it.
"You will prevent Sarah from going into the Dollhouse at all costs," she heard the Goblin King's voice issuing from the crystal. "Stall her until I can get there. Her life, and yours, depend upon it. Do not fail me."
Snix gulped. The king threatened them with death on most days. "I'll kill you if you don't muck out the horse stalls." "I'll kill you if you don't shine my throne." "I'll kill you if you shrink my pants in the laundry." But he never meant it, not really. This, Snix knew, this time she knew he would do it. From her pot, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She caught a glimpse of long, dark hair, a willowy figure, and pale skin. The Lady approached the door of the Dollhouse, and Snix scrambled out of her planter to confront her.
"Oy, hey you! Yeah you, ugly!" Sarah looked down and saw a very dirty goblin looking up at her, with a perturbed look on her green, pinched face, and her arms akimbo out at her sides.
"Who you calling ugly?" Sarah asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"I don't see anyone else here," Snix said as nastily as she could, looking around frantically to see if her master had come yet. "So yeah, I'm talking to you. You can't go in there, porky." She gestured to the Dollhouse, where Sarah began to heard strange, inhuman noises.
"I don't have much a choice, now do I?" Sarah replied spitefully to the decidedly female goblin. She couldn't recall seeing a female goblin before now but she knew this was definitely was. There was her manner of dress, a grubby shift of some kind, and her softer features. But what gave it away the most that the goblin was a girl was that she was a total bitch. And Sarah had dealt with enough bitches in her life to let one get in her way now.
"So, I'll give you a choice," Sarah told the goblin, narrowing her eyes at her. "You get out of my way, or I make you get out of my way."
The girl goblin laughed. "Yeah, I'd like to see you try."
Sarah kicked her foot out at the goblin, not to hit her actually but to try and scare her away so she could get on with getting Cassie out of here. What she didn't expect was the little gobliness to latch on to her leg.
"Hey!" Sarah yelped, trying to shake off the goblin. She stomped around but the dirty little urchin held on with surprising force, infuriating Sarah by laughing as she tried to dislodge her. "This isn't funny!"
"See, that just shows how stupid you are," Snix laughed. "Because it is funny. Really funny. You should see your face."
Sarah felt a soft breeze pass by her, ruffling her hair as she caught something white out of the corner of her eye. She ignored it and continued to try to shake off the annoying creature.
"This is a dirty and underhanded distraction, King," Sarah yelled into the air, hoping that he would appear just so she could yell at him. "This is so beneath you."
"Can I tell you what I'd rather have beneath me?" Sarah heard him whisper in her ear. She let out an exasperated sigh and turned to see Jareth standing behind her. Sarah was too annoyed to be embarrassed at the bold insinuation.
"Really, Jareth? You're sending ankle biters out to deter me? That's just sad."
"I do what I can," Jareth shrugged apathetically, the shoulders of his elaborate armored jacket shifting up and down. "Goblin, let the girl go."
"Yes, boss," Snix replied docilely enough and released Sarah's jean-clad legs.
"So are you going to try and sidetrack me at every turn?" Sarah asked, watching the gobliness scramble back into the planter she had come from.
"I wouldn't be much of a antagonist if I didn't," said airily enough, but his face betrayed an intensity Sarah couldn't quite place. She watched as he pressed his gloved hand against the door of the ramshackle mansion and quickly pulled it back like it had been burned.
"Trapped by your own trap, King?" Sarah asked lightly, though the look on Jareth's face made her more nervous than she ought to be.
"You should be more frightened than you are," Jareth said, rounding on Sarah. She kept herself facing him at all times, so she watched as he circled her, like a mangy wolf circling a tiny rabbit. "This place is not safe."
"I didn't expect it to be," Sarah answered, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You've never made it easy for me."
"Such lies," Jareth purred. "You will never know everything I have done for you. You would do well to listen and heed my advice."
"Oh, and what advice would that be?"
"Surrender to me, Sarah," Jareth meant for it to come out as a righteous command, but it sounded more like a desperate plea. "This could end right now. I cannot protect you unless you give yourself to me."
"I don't need your protection," Sarah huffed, her eyes still following his journey around her. "Why would I need protection from the man who put me in danger in the first place? Just call this all off if I need protection so badly."
"You know I cannot," Jareth said gravely. He moved closer to her and Sarah felt her back slide against the door of the mansion. It did not burn her like it had Jareth. It felt solid and strong. Why would the Goblin King make a obstacle for her that he himself could not penetrate? "I was wished here by another; my quarrel is not with you. Surrender is the only obvious choice. I would give you everything...just say yes."
"I've never been one to take what is given to me," Sarah retorted, trying to back away but only finding solid wood at her back. "I fight for what's mine."Jareth closed in, putting both hands beside her head beside the door on the shingles of the wall. That didn't seem to bother him and he appeared most content trapping her there, between his arms.
"Oh, precious," Jareth whispered. "Just when I think we couldn't be more different, you surprise me. That's just like something I would say. We are similar in ways I never would have imagined. I find that very interesting."
"Just let me do this," Sarah said, shutting her eyes. She wouldn't look at him, couldn't look at him, or her resolve might crumble down like this ramshackle manor. "I need to do this. If we are so similar you would understand."
"I do understand," Jareth said quietly. "And if you understood me you would know why I am trying to stop you. This place has been corrupted. It was never a safe place but I tried to make it so you would be relatively unharmed after entering. Now, his influence blocks me from entering, making me unable chain up what lies inside. I cannot shield you from what lurks beyond."
"Him?" Sarah asked, still not looking at him. It was enough that he was so close, but she could smell him; the leather he wore, his magic, his masculinity, and she wanted to reach out and touch him. Soon he would be so close she wouldn't have to reach out at all to feel him against her.
"You know who," Jareth answered. "There is a game between you and me, Sarah, that I so enjoy playing. But here is a competition against him, the High King, that I cannot release myself from. He plots against me, but he is not your friend."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Sarah repeated, recalling Ash's words to her at the riddle tree.
"No," Jareth said emphatically. "He is no one's friend, especially yours. He wants you to win but in the end, but not for the reasons you think. Don't fall for his tricks. You will see if you go into the Dollhouse here that he's a monster. I house these demons in this prison in my realm, but I keep them contained. If you go in there after he's been inside, I cannot guarantee your friend is safe. I can't defend you against their evil."
"I don't believe a word you say," Sarah retorted. "The least you could do is own up to what you've done, but I wouldn't expect the truth from you. Don't you worry about me, I've got some tricks up my sleeve. I've never needed anyone to take care of me, especially you, Jareth."
"I would have, if you would have let me," Jareth whispered and Sarah knew he would kiss her if she let him. She didn't know why...he hated her, toyed with her friends and her emotions. But there was such a fine love between love and hate. Sarah wasn't so young and innocent anymore that she didn't recognize that...and when to exploit it.
"Oh, Jareth," Sarah said, her lips sensually mouthing his name. Then, she did something she never would have thought of before. It felt foreign at first, but suddenly so right. She lifted her hand and, very lightly, put her finger's to the Goblin King's lips. They parted slightly, and she could feel his breath against her fingers, hot and moist. "You are right. We are alike. Like, now, for instance, what would you do if you were in my situation?"
Jareth was beyond thought at this point. He felt the pads of her fingers against his lips, and he wished she would let the adventurous digits enter so he could savor her taste. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, and in the moment of hesitation of thinking, he knew he had made a mistake.
In his moment of distraction, she had reached behind herself to the doorknob and unlatched it. While he was fighting for words, transfixed by her boldness, she let her weight open the door and she traversed the threshold that he could not cross. She now stood where he could not go, bound by the restrictions his brother had placed on the building's boundaries. Sarah stood, now a few feet away, with a sexy smirk on her face.
"Was I wrong, King? Wouldn't you have done the same thing, taken advantage of my distraction, and furthered your own agenda?"
Jareth leaned in as close as he could. His arms framed the doorway, his golden head bowed forward, glaring at Sarah between half-closed lids.
"Sarah, don't. You have no idea what horrors await you. I only want to beat you. I don't want you broken."
Sarah glared right back at him, her arms crossed against her chest. " You say that, but you know you'll do anything to win. And so will I. Even if it means breaking you."
Jareth reached out and Sarah saw the fine, buttery leather of his gloves begin to singe and smoke his hand trespassed over the door's threshold. She watched as his hand curled from a beckoning plea to a fighting fist.
"You wouldn't dare defy me, Sarah. Not when I'm doing this for your own good. You wouldn't dare."
That only infuriated Sarah more.
"Oh, I dare."
Sarah slammed the door in the Goblin's King's face. She initially felt deeply satisfied in denying Jareth. Sarah relished the moment until she realized she wasn't alone.
In love and War Chapter five Soundtrack
1. Nox Arcana, "Living Dolls". Listen to when: Jareth locks up cassie and explains the Dollhouse.
Lyrics: Instrumental
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?eoclcatkx6oxfyl
2. Deftones, "Change (In The House of Flies)". Listen to when: Ash visits Cassie in the Dollhouse.
Lyrics: I've watched you change
I took you home
Set you on the glass
I pulled off your wings
Then I laughed
I watched a change
In you
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?74ce1i0rhrh0ca2
3. Placebo, "Running Up That Hill". listen to when: Sarah and Jareth meet outside the Dollhouse.
Lyrics: It doesn't hurt me.
You wanna feel how it feels?
You wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
You wanna hear about the deal I'm making?
You be running up that hill
You and me be running up that hill
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh...
You don't wanna hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.
There's a thunder in our hearts, baby.
So much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
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