Disclaimer: No ownership of characters, no suing of authors, yes?
AN: Argh. Short and took forever.
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-Chapter 9-
That was not his little girl.
Robert's arm tightened around Karen, who was staring as much as he, shocked at the change in their child.
This could not be his baby.
His princess, his little girl - she was not so tall, not so mature, did not hold herself with the same grace and poise of the woman-child standing before them.
Even if she did wear the same garments as his firstborn had not a day ago. The hair was right, the form was right yet too old, and the eyes... the eyes were strange.
And in her arms - his son. Golden-haired, solemn-eyed, his little mouth pursed in a pout.
He could feel Karen sigh in relief at his side, saw her eyes sparkle at the sight of her baby.
"Sarah?" he managed to ask once he had caught enough breath to speak, "Is that you?"
A half-smile flitted across her face. "Yes," was all she said.
The single word was enough to send a chill down his spine.
"Well, come on and let's get out of here!" his wife said uncertainly, casting a wary-eyed glance around the room.
Sarah tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. Then she gave a little throaty chuckle and shook her head, dark hair spilling like water over her shoulders. "We're not going anywhere."
What?!
"Sarah! What are you talking about?" he blurted, feeling a frustrated scowl plaster itself onto his face. Damn it - forever spent sloughing through water and mud and psychotics and now his firstborn was being a brat?
Her lips firmed in disapproval. "We're staying here."
Here? Where the bloody hell was here?
"Sarah, have you gone insane?" Karen demanded half-hysterically.
A low, rich chuckle rolled through the air. "I resent the implications of that."
The speaker was not his daughter.
No, those fluid tones belonged to a man, the syllables rich and rolling in decadence, softly accented and flavored with the touch of regality.
He turned around and saw a demon in the guise of an angel.
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Karen Williams felt her jaw drop.
A man stood behind them. Just a man.
Just a beautiful, beautiful man who wore power like a cloak and darkness like a crown. Or was he? Beautiful, certainly - like a moonless night. Strange - alluring, to be certain, elegant even more so - but strange.
Her stomach did an unpleasant turn when burning eyes ripped through her soul and left her raw and empty.
Beautiful and cruel.
He flowed past them and did the unthinkable.
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Black leather settled possessively into the curve of his daughter's side.
Sarah glanced teasingly over her shoulder and up at the... thing that was not human. Who pulled her into his arms and placed a kiss against her neck.
He looked away as his baby girl's eyes fluttered shut.
The world had gone insane.
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She kept her eyes closed. She didn't want to see.
But Jareth's arms and power wrapped around her, cloaking her in quiet darkness that shimmered with the light of a thousand dying stars.
A shuffle of feet. Then the angry bellow of, "Where the hell are we?"
She felt Jareth muffle a snicker. "You're in my castle," came the patiently amused reply as fingertips danced up and down her spine. She repressed the inadvertent snicker.
She wanted to let them go, not give them a show!
"I figured that much out, dammit!"
It was rather wryly amusing, wasn't it? Her own dear father trying to intimidate the Goblin King. Ridiculous.
Soft and quavering, a voice she did not want to hear. "Sarah?"
The hands on her side tensed. Jerk. She could speak for herself. "Leave me the hell alone, Karen."
"Sarah!" her father was, apparently, outraged. What a speedy reconcile they had shared! Ah, but that was the fault of the sly one at her back, was it not?
"She may speak as she wishes." How cute, he was defending her honor. Or threatening her father with death. She couldn't interpret the fluid subtleties that ribboned through his voice.
An exasperated noise, cut off before it could be fully vocalized and reverberate off of the great walls. "And just who the hell are you?"
Despite herself, Sarah let out a small, half-hysterical laugh. "Jareth. He's the Goblin King."
Chew on that, bastard.
A long moment of silence, broken by a soft, confused, "What the hell?"
She muffled a snicker. "Surprise, Karen. I'm dating." Er... yeah, in a sense. Was practically engaged.
Floundering. "Is Toby all right?"
The one behind her stiffened. "The child is fine. He will remain so unless you do something foolish," he bit out, clearly displeased.
She elbowed him in the stomach, opening her eyes to glare at him. "Jareth!"
He met her gaze evenly, anger sparking in the shimmering depths of his eyes. His voice was soft and meant for her ears alone when he spoke. "I allowed them this much. I bend the rules for you too much, little one."
She knew it was true. But she still bit her lip and looked away. "...all right."
"Sarah?" Her father, voice trembling.
She turned her eyes to the heavens in supplication. "...I don't know what to do."
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