It's Only Forever (a labyrinth fanfic)

Chapter 22

Jareth POV:

"Are we almost there? Why do we have to go back to the oubliette? Who were the Coupern sisters? Hoggle will you please answer me? Are we there yet? Why is this taking so long?"

I put up with it for a whole hour. Hoggle would glance at me to see how I was taking the dark haired girl's whining before looking away. We came to a house with an old goblin snoring on its porch. I nudged it with my foot, "Oh wake up Alvgeir, you filthy drunk."

Alvgeir snorted and awoke with a jump, "I'll beat you with my ol' mother's walking stick you hunch backed-"

I heard Sarah chuckle and my face grew warm, "Shut up and open the door you ugly mothball."

The goblin bowed and lumbered in the direction of the door, "Anything for the king. All high and mighty. Can't even find a girl. Alone for life. Pah! Good king. Great king. I may be drunk but I ain't alone crying over the loss of my favorite pair of shoes. Pft!"

Sarah was suppressing her laughter as we entered the house. I eyed the stairs that led to the underground tunnels and thought about my bad leg. While Sarah had been sleeping, I'd gone out and spoken with the goblin army about a clue I was searching for; they unhappily gave me a skeletal mask they'd found earlier. On my way back I came across a goblin who was kind enough to give me a clean shirt and wrap my leg in some bandages, but it still didn't help much.

"Why are we in a goblin house Jareth?"

I looked at Sarah and my eyes lingered a little too long on her face, "Um, the stairs. We... uh. Down the stairs. To the tunnels. Oubliette. You can go first."

Hoggle sat on a crudely made chair, "Ludo will never fit on those stairs."

I sighed in annoyance, "Then leave him here."

"No!" Sarah nearly shouted at me, "Ludo doesn't like being alone."

The huge beast nodded, "Ludo scared."

"Do not fear my brother! I shall stay with thee while they brave those tunnels of stone!" Didymus tied his sheep dog to the leg of the table and patted Ludo's foot reassuringly. Hoggle shifted in his seat, "Well if Ludo doesn't have to go then I sure ain't either."

Sarah gave him a furitive look, "Hoggle!"

He waved his hand at her, "I ain't movin from this here chair."

I rubbed my eyes, "For God's sake we don't have all day. Are you coming with me or not?"

It hurt that she hesitated for so long. At long last she grumbled, "Fine."

I waved her towards the stairs before following at a limp. Hoggle called after me, "If she kills you down there I call dibs on your bed.

*        *        *        *        *        *

The oubliette was dry and smelled like rancid flour. I brushed a cobweb from one of the walls and ran my hand over the dusty surface.

"What are you doing?" Sarah groaned. I looked up at the trap door that led to the helping hands. Where do you hide a clue in a hole?

Sarah kicked at the ground, "Oh don't mind me. I'm fine. It's not like I asked you a question or anything."

I clenched my jaw but ignored her as I tipped a rock over with my toe. This would be so much easier if I at least knew what I was looking for. Meanwhile Sarah continued to rant, "I love being ignored and all but maybe we could stop playing inspect the oubliette and I could go do something useful. I still have things to do. One day left. Not that it matters. I mean you can just go back to your castle and polish your boots; I'll be perfectly fine without you. But while we're here we might as well waste some more time."

I didn't face her, "Oh would you just shut the hell up already?"

"Shut up? After all the crap you've pulled you have the nerve to tell me to shut up?"

I fought to keep down my emotions, "For five seconds. Be quiet. Please."

Sarah sneered, "You have no right to tell me to be quiet. You have done nothing but ignore me since we started searching for a way to keep me alive. I hate it. I have been ignored by everyone for too long to put up with your self-centered, egotistical, arrogant, self serving bullshit."

My anger swelled and before I could stop myself the back of my hand connected with her face and she was sent spiraling backwards. She held her hand to her cheek and stared at me in shock. My chest was heaving and I felt the tears coming to my eyes, "Sarah I-"

"Save it Goblin King. I don't want to hear it." She stood and was about to leave when I shouted after her, "It's always about you isn't it?"

She spun to face me, "No it's not! I just want to come out of this alive! And you with your magic and clues aren't helping. All you've done is sit on your ass!"

"Is that what you think I've been doing? You may have solved a labyrinth but you are just as naive as the day I met you."

"Oh am I? Who's the one that's been busting their butt to get the clues?"

I widened my eyes in exasperation, "Both of us Sarah! I have been working just as hard as you if not harder. You see, there's this one little detail that I forgot to tell you about- I can't use my magic! Yeah. I haven't had to do anything all my life and now here I am risking everything for a girl I love even though I know she'll never think twice about me. I have run up hours worth of staircases, delt with my goblin army, nearly lost my leg, and I have done it all for you. I've given up on us Sarah, I know that won't happen. All I'm asking for is a little recognition."

The silence was heavy as I waited for Sarah to say something. But she just stared at me. I turned away from her and my eyes caught the storage door. Quietly, I peered into the closet that was empty save for a silver goblet. I grabbed it and without a word handed it to Sarah before limping back up the stairs.

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...hey guys...

Let me start by saying how sorry I am for not updating in like a whole month. No, really I feel like utter crap because of it. I am so sorry.

But on a lighter note, here I am so yay! Woop woop! ^_^

We are drawing near to the end of the book and I just want to again, thank you guys for being so awesome. I really have missed everyone so thank you for being as supportive as you've all been.

Also, just saying- David Bowie. Is he not gorgeous? But shaw, all is okay-ish now so let the updating begin!

Thank you again and have a most stupendous evening! As always,

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p.s. new vocab word for ya'll: Ampersand (AM-per-sand) the symbol "&"; represents the word "and." So yeah, this thing --> & is an ampersand. Cool right? :P