Disclaimer: Let's just say they're lucky I don't own them.

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-C hapter One-

Another night. Stormy - and why not, it added to the drama. It always did, the weather conforming to her oft-contradictory desires.

She hated the fights. She loved the nights. Doubly damned, and rightfully so.

Another hoarse-voiced scream, another crash. What had she expected?

...nothing, in the end. And, of course, that was what she received. It was only fair, after all.

The thunder rolled, low and ominous, but the winds were laughing merrily as they whipped themselves into a frenzy. A half-smile touched her lips. How deliciously appropriate it was. She had to give him points for style, if nothing else.

Lightning flashed, his wicked smile incarnated in the elements. Quicksilver and deadly. And, of course, unnaturally beautiful.

Another scream.

Did they argue over her? Or the blonde child she clasped against her chest? No, that would be asking too much, wouldn't it? No, they argued for themselves.

She'd seen this particular production many times before, and cared for it less and less with each meaningless repetition.

Of course she loved her father, her own unreachable mother, her darling Toby, and even Karen in a way. But Toby was indeed the only truly good thing to come out of this mess.

And Jareth, damn him to hell.

She wondered, sometimes, why he bothered with her still. The dazzle that surrounded her, drowned her senses, provoked her into fighting back - that was him paying her a favor. Or tormenting her, tugging her with relentless force into an oblivion she wasn't sure she wanted to resist.

A thud.

They had no more exprensive vases to shatter, not after the last fight. The wallpaper was getting ragged from all of the abuse hurled against it, and Karen hadn't yet bothered to repair it.

She clapped her hands over Toby's ears to block out the string of curses wafting up the stairs. The child whimpered a little, but made no other sound of protest. He had gotten as used to it as she had.

It would have been so easy, so wonderfully, sinfully easy, but she wouldn't give that bastard the satisfaction. She had not won her brother only to return the prize into the gloating hands of he who had stolen him away.

Never.

She would sit here in the darkness and listen to his laughter, low and rich, drifting in on the wind. He was a patient creature - and why not? Eternity was his playground.

Toby shivered as another peal of thunder shook the house. She would not give in. Her brother would not be condemned a life of brainless servitude. He would grow up here, in a nice normal home, with a nice normal family, and all would be well.

A scream, followed by a sob, echoed from downstairs.

All would be well.

...it had to be, otherwise... No!

Toby had suffered once for her ignorance. She would not fall for it again. She would not!

Wood shattered. The table had to be in splinters by now.

She rocked the child against her chest and hummbed him a soothing melody. It froze on her lips when she realized who the song belonged to.

"You can't have him," she addressed the night and the storm, her voice low but resolute.

A rich chuckle accentuated the roiling winds.

"Can't I?" he inquired regally, melting out of -into?- the darkness.

For a moment, her breath and heart froze. Of course she had known - how could she not? But she hadn't expected - she clenched her teeth and turned her eyes resolutely to Toby's golden mop of hair.

But her soul was filled with Jareth.

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AN: I make no apologies. Whatever Laby fiction I wind up writing, it's always gonna be twisted. I don't know why that is, but it is. Yes, I know the premise has been used before, and in ways that are far superior to this little thing. *shrug* Make my day and review despite this rather glaring defect in the product.

Email: mjalta@yahoo.com

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