WHO: Peter Petrelli, Hoggle // Sarah Williams, Jareth, Nathan Petrelli, Claire Bennet (future), Heidi Petrelli WHERE: The Labyrinth, in Jareth's kingdom // the Hyperion; outside the Hyperion WHEN: A bit out of regular time // ten minutes after this WHAT: Beginning the Labyrinth and a second deal made. RATING: PG-13 for language STATUS: log; COMPLETED!
After the Goblin King had left, off to... well, mostly likely back to Los Angeles in order to gloat to Sarah. Still, after his departure, there were several moments in which Peter was doubled over, laughing.
It was laugh, or scream, and the latter seemed a bit too much like panicking. So Peter laughed, rolling in the dirt for a minute or two, and when his ribs ached and his eyes were watering, he sat up, wiped his eyes, and looked over the scene in front of him.
The labyrinth stretched out for miles, surrounding the city and the castle. He had to make it there, huh? If the bastard really had taken away his abilities... Peter frowned now, searching his mind and coming up blank. He couldn't feel any of them. There was a heavy sense of loss, instead.
"Asshole," he muttered, starting to walk. Down to the gates, at least. He'd have to start somewhere.
Down near the wall of the Labyrinth, Hoggle waited for the latest individual meant to run the Labyrinth. Jareth hadn't stayed more than ten seconds after appearing at Hoggle's side, but in that ten seconds he'd managed to communicate just how important it was that this 'Peter' spend the next thirteen hours within the Labyrinth, never reaching the center. Threats and all, as usual.
Didn't matter, though. There was only one person he'd ever defied Jareth for and that was a particularly special circumstance.
Without turning around at the sound of footsteps, the dwarf continued to trim the tall weeds near the wall.
When Peter saw the figure of the dwarf standing by the wall, the first thought that crossed his mind was, Well, at least he's not pissing in the pond. He wasn't certain if it would be the same dwarf Sarah had known - Hoggle, he had to remember that - but the station outside of the maze was too similar to be mere coincidence.
"Excuse me," he asked, moving up closer to the walls. "I know that King Codpiece has probably told you to stop me from getting into the labyrinth at all costs, but the truth is, I'm trying to get back to a girl, and if I can't get to her soon, she's probably going to come looking for me. So... think you can help?"
Still facing the wall, the dwarf's eyebrows knitted together briefly. King Codpiece? That was a new one. Hoggle could just imagine the sob story that went with this request, though. Didn't even need to turn around to do that, but he did, briefly, then turned back to his task, leaning toward another sibling situation - busy with the 'girl', interrupted by the sibling, Jareth sweeping in as always.
"Oh, maybe," he finally answered, a noncommittal tone honed over time without measure. Dropping the shears on the ground, he picked up his water can and ambled down the wall to water some flowers.
Peter was grinning. He couldn't help himself. "I'd appreciate it. And I know Sarah would, too. She talks about this place sometimes, but not like she misses it. I mean, she misses her friends here, but not really the place itself. And I'd really like to avoid her being here again, especially if it means she had to go to Jareth to get her back here." By this point, he was scowling. "I really hate that man. King. Goblin-thing. Whatever he is. Sarah's happy where she is. Until he comes in and starts throwing his weight around."
The watering can went slack in Hoggle's hand at the first mention of the name Sarah, nearly touching the ground as water poured out of the spout and the open top when 'friends' were brought up and then it clattered to the ground at Peter's final revelation. The watering can forgotten, Hoggle turned to face Peter.
"Sarah?"
There was hope and suspicion in equal measure in his expression, as Hoggle would have never believed Sarah would wish another person away. If this was a trick of Jareth's...
Peter looked down at the dwarf, then kneeled so they were eye to eye. "Hoggle. You're Hoggle. Sarah told me you helped her. That you were the best friend she needed." His eyes met the dwarf's. "I love her. I love her with everything I am, and she loves me. And if I can't get out of here in time, then she's going to convince Jareth to let her come back for me."
Peter sighed. "So I ask again. Hoggle, can you help me?"
The kid knew his name. Got it right on the first try too. Hoggle was baffled, to be certain, but there was a rallying factor here that couldn't be ignored. Sarah was involved somehow and for Sarah - well, he'd ignore all of Jareth's orders. Once he was certain this was on the up and up, that is. In the meantime, wouldn't hurt to take Peter part of the way.
"Well, why didn't you say that in the first place? Come on." With a terse wave, the doors near them creaked open and Hoggle led the way through them, turning around once they were inside. With another wave, the doors started to close behind them, until Hoggle grunted and they stopped.
"On second thought." The doors swung back out completely. "She'll be needing those open."
Then he started off to the right.
"I thought I did say so in the first place," Peter said, following the dwarf. But he let that go, and stepped inside the doors behind Hoggle. The dwarf immediately began to move to the right, and Peter frowned. "I thought you wouldn't go either way. So what's the real story?"
He didn't expect the dwarf to trust him yet. If ever. But he was willing to hear the dwarf's side of things. "Which way would you go?"
Hoggle didn't immediately stop short when Peter spoke, but he did slow, turning back to face him with narrowed eyes. There were two options again - either this was a trick of Jareth's, or Sarah had told him quite a lot about what had happened here. The second was the better of the two, but it left a bigger question. The Labyrinth was for those who'd wished someone away, so if Sarah had told him everything, he had to be an idiot for doing it anyhow.
Hoggle, being Hoggle, asked it rather than answer Peter's question.
"Who'd you wish away?" The dwarf made no move, just waited.
"I didn't wish anyone away," Peter said. "Jareth tricked someone who didn't like me much into wishing me away." Her scowled again. "So that I wouldn't be around to stop him when he went after Sarah again."
"Ooo! That rat, that-" Though the ensuing colorful tirade was brief, it was clear Hoggle wasn't happy about this fact at all. Jareth was a dirty cheater, always had been. But the dwarf wasn't blind, this was clearly personal, which meant there were no rules that weren't Jareth's.
"Taking you to the castle won't do a bit of good," he said, moving back to the wall directly across from the doors. "You were wished away. Means you're supposed to be up at the castle."
Still grumbling, the dwarf stepped forward into the wall, but rather than run face-first into it, a path appeared that slanted off to the left. One way only, but that was what mattered. "Damn him, rotten cheater."
"So why would he leave me here if I should be at the castle?" That didn't seem to make much sense. Then again, nothing about this made much sense. "I guess I'm too old and crochety to turn into a goblin."
Peter started to follow the dwarf. "Unless the goal is just to run me around this place while he tries to woo Sarah. Again." He shook his head. "How do I get out of here, is really the question, because... the longer I'm here, the more time he has with Sarah."
Hoggle snorted. "You don't."
He didn't immediately continue, walking in silence for several minutes before finally speaking. The debate took that long, though it would have taken longer if Hoggle hadn't learned to trust someone before in his life. "Usually, I lead people back to the beginning. You, you I'm supposed to lead around inside. Easy to get lost in the Labyrinth. Even harder to find someone."
The dwarf eyed Peter. "Seems to me, he doesn't want you found."
Peter sighed. "So you lead me around in circles, so that..." His brain caught up with the rest, and Peter dropped his face into his palm. "So that once Sarah gets here, to try and save me, she won't be able to find me. And wastes her thirteen hours trying, since she'll be headed for the castle. Where I will not be."
He sighed. "And since you're the one leading me around, Sarah doesn't get to see you, either."
Hoggle laughed loudly. "Said I was supposed to. Didn't say I was going to." The emerged into an area of the Labyrinth with more stone walls, but they were shorter here. Hoggle turned to the left, headed for an archway closeby. "See, first rule of this place is: nothing's as it seems. Sarah knows it - should know it, at least."
Hoggle stabbed a stubby finger at the wall closest to him as they moved through the archway. "Jareth, after she beat it, changed it so no one could do it again." The dwarf cackled. "Didn't much like being beat at his own game. Changes anyhow, minute by minute, but it's changed almost completely now. But it isn't her Labyrinth anyhow." He eyed Peter again. "Not with you in here, at least."
He stopped in what appeared to be a dead end and then pushed against the wall. A moment later, it slid back and away, revealing a passage. "She tries to do anything she did before, it ain't going to go the same. At all."
Peter saw the passage he was opening up, but at the dwarf's words, he went still. "So she can't depend on anything she used to know about this place. Everything's changed." He looked around, then shook his head, turning back towards the archway.
"We have to go back. She's going to come, she's going to find herself here, and then she'll head inside, and she won't know that things are different." He looked at Hoggle. "Can we stay just inside the gates? So Jareth won't see us, but she can find us as soon as she comes in?"
He didn't want Sarah here at all, but here and alone was even worse.
"So Jareth won't see us?" The dwarf's laughter was louder, though laced with a vague apprehension. "Jareth sees everything. Probably sees this right now, if he's not busy not looking." At that thought, Hoggle made a face. There wasn't much he could do for Sarah right now, however, except make sure she met up with Peter as soon as possible, something he had every intention of doing now after all he'd just learned from Peter. But first...
"Have to make it look good, you understand," he explained and jerked his head toward the open passage. "Now in you get."
Peter looked at the passage. Then at the dwarf. He wasn't sure what was going to happen, and he didn't know the dwarf enough to know--
Wait. Sarah knew Hoggle. And Sarah trusted Hoggle.
Peter let out a breath. "Sarah trusts you. And I love Sarah." He gripped Hoggle's shoulder for a moment, then moved into the passage.
Though Peter's words gave the dwarf a moment's pause, it didn't deter him from his plan. With a small shrug, Hoggle reached down and pulled a wooden door from the ground, the fit perfect and the decoration on it that of stone, leaving it unnoticed by anyone who didn't know what to look for, and moved it into place over the hole.
"There's matches in there, lantern's to the left," he called right before he sealed off the gap completely, effectively locking Peter inside. At least he'd just cleaned that closet, might be a little cramped, but Hoggle figured it would do for now.
"Matches? What do you--" The room was darkening, and Peter saw a door - a door that wasn't there a moment ago - swing shut, and threw himself at it, in time to hear the lock click.
"Hoggle! What are you doing?!" He pounded at the door. "We have to get back to Sarah! Hoggle!"
Fantastic. First, kidnapped by goblins. Second, thrown into a labyrinth by King Codpiece himself. Now, locked in a pantry by a dwarf. This was turning out to be a great day.
-*-*-*-*-
Sarah was beyond fear at this point - or, more accurately, rage had taken first place, so the fear was harder to find. She had plenty to be furious about, and several people to be furious at, but right now the only thing that mattered was that she did what was necessary. The solution was as clear to her as anything.
She would win Peter back.
She wasn't going into this unprepared this time, however. After digging out a relatively small bag with a long enough strap, she'd hunted down what she could think to bring, ranging from Band-aids for any injury of her own during any possible separation to a few snacks to stall the possible 'drugged food' element again. Of course, there were some things she hadn't considered that were offered to her as she rummaged in first aid kits and the kitchen and elsewhere.
Claire was the first.
"Take this," she said as Sarah dismantled a first aid kit, pressing a filled syringe into Sarah's hand.
Sarah blinked at her, then looked down at the syringe. All right, being given blood wasn't exactly the most shocking thing ever, but it was strange and she didn't understand why.
"You nearly got sliced up the last time," Claire said quietly. "If you get separated from Peter and end up hurt beyond Band-aids," she rolled her eyes over Sarah's preparations, then pointed to a spot on Sarah's arm, "inject it, right here." At the further confusion from Sarah, she sighed. "It's mine. I don't just heal myself. ... I can heal other people." Even now, that was weird to admit. She wanted to help people, but explaining it, that was still awkward.
Understanding then, Sarah pulled Claire into a brief but fierce hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "I'll bring him back, I promise."
Nathan was the next, as she was rummaging in her room looking for a sweatshirt to conceal the telling bump of bag she'd hidden beneath her tanktop. She couldn't take the chance that Jareth would notice it and keep her from bringing the supplies along.
"Take a handgun, he can't see it as easily," he said, holding out the handgun to her.
Sarah didn't blink so much as just stared at him. "Dear God, Nathan, he's a Goblin King. He can turn the bullets into flies if he wanted." Having the gun would be a temptation, a big temptation, to exercise her fury with the potential for bullet-shaped holes in Jareth's body. It wouldn't help anyone.
"And there aren't other," Nathan gestured wildly, "things you might need it for?" Like he knew. He'd meant to watch that damned movie, but it hadn't seemed important enough when Heidi had books and research for him to look over instead. Now he wished he had - though nothing would calm the turmoil left in the wake of the mental link with Peter just going dead. It was hard to remind himself that in this instance, it didn't mean Peter was dead or gone back to his own timeline. Being out of reach because of a magical kidnapping was hard enough.
"I can't believe I'm taking this," Sarah muttered, but she did take the gun. It was the rest that had been hard to deal with, as Nathan was the first to insist face-to-face that he should go with her. Vehemently. He was also the absolute last person that should go, as far as Sarah was concerned.
In the two minutes that the argument lasted, Sarah finished readying herself and headed toward the lobby. Nathan was still arguing his case when they descended the stairs and found Heidi waiting there.
Heidi was furious, but it wasn't showing. It had occurred to her to march directly up to Sarah and demand to accompany her, but following Nathan's attempt to do so, she had stifled the urge as best she could. Sarah didn't need a third party to concern herself with, no matter how many times she had watched the movie and reguardless of the research she had done. Peter was already one too many people she had to worry about bringing through this.
All the same, she would do her part. Dressed to depart, not for a Labyrinth, but the usual brand of jaunt through LA, she was waiting when they came down.
"How much time do you need?" She asked, voice calm and carrying so that it cut through the argument Nathan was making all manner of appeal, rebuttle, and justification for.
Sarah couldn't help herself. She hugged Heidi. It was part gratitude that Heidi hadn't also asked to go, even though Sarah was certain she wanted to be there just as much as the others - if not more than pretty much everyone besides Nathan - and partly just because she needed the stabilization. That hug increased in fierceness when she realized what Heidi was offering. It was exactly what Sarah had hoped she could plan with Heidi, even though she'd hated herself for even having the thought of putting Heidi in danger.
"I don't know," she said as she pulled back, hating the answer too. She wanted to definitively answer questions, make solid promises and reassurances and follow through on all of them. But she couldn't, because they weren't dealing in absolutes and certainties. They weren't even dealing in the well-known.
"Time doesn't move the same between here and there. It isn't even consistent. I could need two minutes, thirteen hours exactly or a week." She wondered, vaguely, if the ability to have another conversation with Nathan right there arguing every point she'd made was some kind of level advance in the Petrelli family. Level 25, gold gained: 10,000 coins, abilities gained: Tuning Out Brother-Figures.
"Oh no. No, no, no," Nathan said, attention momentarily diverted from his argument with Sarah to Heidi and what she was saying. The plan didn't need to be explained, he was already following what exactly Heidi intended. "You're not going toe to toe with this guy."
She returned the hug without holding. Any undue coddling or lingering was the last thing Sarah needed to let her emotions leak any further into her resolve. Her hands, however, remained on her shoulders when she pulled away.
"Well, I'll just hope for the first and try not to think about the last." Heidi replied, biting the inside of her cheek for a half a minute, then letting it go so a sigh could pass through. "I'm sure the idea doesn't sit entirely well with you, which is why I thought I would head you off and make it my own."
Giving Sarah's shoulders a squeeze, she turned her attention to Nathan, raising a hand to forestall any further objections. "I intend to keep my toes a respectable distance from his, I might get glitter on my shoes. Debating this isn't getting Peter any more saved. Sarah can't have King Codpiece parading back in at any moment or peeking in every five minutes. His attention needs to be elsewhere, and I'm the best and most well-informed distraction there is." She lowered the hand to take his, and held it firmly. "I'm the only one he takes seriously--or as seriously as he takes those who aren't him."
"You're forgetting the part where he thinks you're a witch and would like nothing more than to get rid of you," Nathan said, jaw working. There wasn't anything about any of this that didn't increase the internal panic he'd felt since Peter had just vanished. At this point, Peter was in danger, Sarah was going to be in danger soon and Heidi was joining the mess by going right to the source of all of their problems.
"And it's the only advantage we have right now," Sarah said, barely-achieved control turning to pleading. She didn't like this any more than he did - Heidi had basically become the sister she'd never had - but they didn't have time to launch some multi-person attack like they did in this city on a regular basis. This was different.
Nathan turned to Sarah again, feeling the weight of knowing he was not only in an argument he couldn't win, but fighting something already decided. "You can't go into this by yourself."
"I can and have and I'll do the whole thing by myself if necessary," Sarah said. "But it won't be necessary. I have friends there, Nathan - and don't you dare make that face at me! They're better, more loyal friends than most humans." Her voice dropped in volume, but there was nothing but determination. "Peter saves people in this city, including us, every day. It's my turn to save Peter."
Pulling out her phone, she dialed Heidi's cellphone. "I'll leave it on, so you can hear when he agrees to let me run the Labyrinth. If you could let him see you then - but only then, after he makes the deal - I can get him to send me there to fulfill the deal and then he'll want to come back and confront you."
"I am not." She countered, and held the hand a little tighter. "I am using the part where he thinks I am a witch and therefore not easy to get rid of to our advantage." It was risky, and Heidi was not in the habit of putting herself in precarious situations, but any alternatives they might have would either be shrugged off; or annoy Jareth into returning to his kingdom where thwarting Sarah would become his primary focus.
Heidi answered the call, and slipped it into the pocket of the light jacket she'd donned for leaving the hotel. It wasn't even particularly cool outside, but the weight was comforting. "Sounds like a plan--I knew practicing my witchly lurking would come in handy eventually. I'll wait around the corner until he's agreed and you've passed by. That should be sufficient time to lull him into a sense of relative security."
Now, the difficult part. "Nathan," She paused, and tried not to grimace at the look on his face. It was by far one of his stonier, more determined ones. "You're not coming with me, either. I need you here."
There was a reason for that exact expression on his face and it was the fact Nathan knew what Heidi intended to say before she said. Rationally, it made sense. Someone needed to be in the hotel for the boys, especially if something went wrong. Someone also needed to be in the hotel to make certain no one came outside and interrupted Sarah's plan, jeopardizing the rescue efforts.
Rationally, it made sense. Emotionally, not one damn part of this made any sense to Nathan whatsoever.
What followed was a colorful string of epithets that he didn't bother to muffle.
Blinking just a bit at the breadth and creativity of Nathan's cursing, Sarah checked her watch. A minute and a half. Enough time to get outside to the meeting place before Jareth arrived. It meant she had to go now.
"He's coming back, I promise," she said, holding Heidi's gaze before moving to catch Nathan's. "No matter what it takes, Peter's coming back."
A moment later, Nathan had a hold on her shoulders, face lowered to hers. "You both are, Sarah," he said, a tone that left little room for argument. He might have lost every other argument with these two women in the last ten minutes, but he wouldn't accept anything but his way on this. "Don't even think about self-sacrificing heroics, you understand?"
Not think about it? It was the other half of the plan. Wisely not saying this for fear if she did, she would never get outside in time, Sarah simply nodded at Nathan. She nearly lost another piece of her emotional control a second later, however, when he enveloped her in a hard hug, one she returned just as fiercely. It was ridiculous, but on top of everything else she needed to do or worry about, and the fact that if she failed, she wouldn't be here to see the reaction, she still didn't want to disappoint this man by doing anything less than returning with Peter.
When Nathan released her, Sarah hugged Heidi again, briefly and for a greater purpose than just the emotional connection. The deal she would make was one that Nathan couldn't hear after what he had just said, and one she didn't want him to hear after her not-promise.
"Please don't let him listen to this conversation," she whispered in a rush, let go of Heidi and then left quickly before anyone else could intervene.
Nathan watched her go and then turned to Heidi, conflicted and quiet before he tugged her to him and kissed her, nothing gentle about it. Even if he no longer treated her like glass, that didn't change he would still do his best to protect her just as she would him, not a 'male protector' ideal as much as the marriage they'd had for so many years. Letting her go out there without another defense to back-up her admittedly formidable verbal skills was counter to everything in his personality.
And he had to let it happen.
"No self-sacrificing heroics for you either," he whispered when he'd pulled back from her mouth enough to speak.
Once Heidi had managed to bring the kiss down from desperate and fearful to reassuring and calm, she took the phone from her pocket, and, placing her thumb over the mouthpiece, raised her brows. "You do realize where my strategy is not to do any sacrificing besides that of my infinite patience, stereotypically noble gestures involving surrender on behalf of the Mansel in Distress probably plays a large part in hers?"
She leaned foward to kiss him again as she held her phone to her ear. "Don't look so dour, it'll worry the boys. There will be plenty of dashing, manly heroics for me to try to talk you out of once the Traditional Gender Role-reversal Rescue is over." Shooting him a look that clearly stated if he removed the phone from her posession or said anything loud enough to be heard around her thumb, retribution would be swift and exact, she adjusted her head so they could both hear the conversation until she departed. Sarah might not have wanted Nathan to hear it, but Heidi wasn't going to keep him out of the loop. He needed to be aware of what was going on, even if he didn't approve of it.
Nathan realized it, and had since Sarah only nodded. He would have been happy in his willful delusion that someone would listen to him right now, secure in the insistence that he way getting his way at least in that, but reason in the form of the tag-team of his own mind and Heidi's words sent delusion to the curb.
"They wouldn't be together if they weren't both the type to sacrifice themselves for the safety or well being of others," he said with a sigh, resting his head against hers to wait on the conversation. In the end, he wasn't certain he could take an absolute position on the topic, as if saving one of his family members meant sacrificing himself, he would do it. It didn't mean, however, that he wouldn't still frown on the whole thing, especially after using his 'no arguments' tone. People were supposed to listen to that one, dammit.
Not pausing as she exited the Hyperion, Sarah crossed the street with her head up, already looking for Jareth - in either form, even though the later option made her stomach clench. A snowy owl would be hard to miss in the daylight, even by someone not looking for it.
Coming to a stop on the sidewalk across the street from the hotel and several buildings down, far enough away she could see anyone approach, she waited for Jareth. Anyone who tried to involve themselves would be well-intentioned, no doubt, but Sarah couldn't risk involving anyone else. She simply hoped Nathan and Heidi would keep anyone at bay long enough to see this accomplished.
Jareth came to the predestined meeting spot, a look of utter satisfaction on his face that had not been there in some time. He was certain that he had a plan worked out now that would ensure Sarah's return to his kingdom, and, more importantly, her decision to stay. He had her precious Peter, the man who was important enough to her that she forgot all about her destiny with him, and he was hoping that holding the man as bait would be enough to make her agree to nearly anything. She would come, and when she did she would see how weak and wrong her choice was.
"Hello, Sarah," He said, his voice all but saturated with satisfaction and victory. "You wanted to meet with me?"
There were many things Sarah wanted to say and do. At the top of the list was foul language and bodily harm. She might not have a gun in her hand right now, but she had enough hand-to-hand combat training at this point to do some significant damage. But doing damage wouldn't get her what she wanted, which was Peter back.
Biting back every nasty word she'd love to say right now, she sucked in a breath slowly and then let it out.
"Bring Peter back."
Jareth tilted his head back, laughing soundly. It was precious how she thought that he would just bring Peter back because she asked. He might love her a good deal, but he had to prove this lesson to her.
"You can't just demand him back and expect me to snap my fingers." He smiled, bringing a crystal ball to his fingertips. It danced over them for a moment, catching the light, and he peered into it with an interested expression, taking in the less than pleased look that her boyfriend was wearing in the Labyrinth. "I have no reason to do that."
Sarah pointedly ignored the crystal between her and Jareth. She wouldn't be drawn into looking inside it, no matter what he promised would be within. It was a trap she would avoid no matter what.
"You do have a reason," she said, willing her tone to be steady, even if she couldn't be calm right now. "You've accomplished nothing by doing this. Bring him back. It's the last time I'm asking."
It wasn't a threat, just a statement. She would ask, then barter. If neither worked, she'd reduce herself to begging, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Jareth raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that what I have done has been for your sake?" It was a blatant lie, as he had no reason to hate Peter other than the fact that he was Sarah's lover and that he had thwarted Jareth more times than he wanted to think about, but Jareth was not above lying. "You've made it quite clear that we have no future together. You have made it abundantly, publicly clear. Peter has been wished away, and you should know personally how little control I have over the foolish choices that are made when humans wish people away."
The crystal rolled over his fingertips, and inched closer to him and closer to her. He paused, looking into it and smirking. "Poor fool." Peter had found Hoggle, a dwarf who had been instructed with the most plain instruction on how to deal with the human.
Sarah didn't believe a word of it. It was lies, just as most of what Jareth said was lies. Delusion didn't fade that fast. And all of it was only compounded by the leap Jareth had made this time in order to secure what had not even been wished away properly.
"You unimaginable bastard," she growled, temper rising. "He wasn't wished away to the goblins! You had no right to take him, no right at all!"
Shooting him in the face was becoming more tempting by the minute, it truly was, but she had to remind herself it would get her absolutely nowhere.
Jareth shrugged, taking a calculated risk in taking a step back. "Well, if you are so certain of it, then there's no use talking to you. You can think what you wish about what happened to your knight in motel or whatever you called him. You can think what you want to about me..and I know you, you will anyway." He smiled once more into the crystal, then allowed it to vanish.
"I'm very busy, Sarah, I have things to deal with in my world--and I've not got time to argue with you about something that your mind is made up on." He turned and began to walk away.
The crystal gone was a tiny bit of relief for Sarah, not for the temptation but for the possibility he had been watching Peter. Without Jareth's eyes on him, Peter might have a better chance of getting himself out of the castle and if he could get himself outside it while she was using the shortcut to him, she would soon get to him.
And then Jareth turned and began to walk away, and suddenly that fear that had been securely buried beneath the anger found a few cracks to creep through and begin to make itself known. She couldn't let him walk away.
"You're going to leave without even hearing my deal?" she called, remaining where she stood.
Jareth turned, but didn't walk back. He wanted her to understand that he had the upper hand now. He needed her to see that he was a powerful king instead of someone to be mocked, and more importantly, that her boyfriend had no power compared to him. She could never see that if he was racing back to her and offering her the world on a silver platter, he had tried that once and failed miserably. It was all he could do not to gloat as he thought about how he could make her ask for him again, make her see that she was begging for a man who couldn't even save himself--a mere ordinary human man not worth saving.
"It seems to me that you are already too set in your ways to make any sort of deal that I could find acceptable. 'Bring Peter back, this is the last time that I am asking,' is hardly a deal. What should I stay to hear? 'Bring Peter back right now or else?'"
"If you feel he's been rightfully wished away," Sarah said, voice carrying only far enough for him to hear her, "then I run the Labyrinth to win him back, just as I did with Toby. If I win, Peter and I come back here, just like how it went before. If I lose, he comes back here, far away from the Underground, and I'll stay with you, far away from Los Angeles."
She hadn't expected to feel bile rise in her throat at speaking the only deal she had to offer, but it did. She fought it back because her disgust didn't matter. Peter's family and friends needed back their brother, uncle, son and friend. Los Angeles needed back its Champion. She would see that happen, no matter what it took.
And she would beat the Labyrinth again, as there was no way in hell she was giving up everything she had here.
Jareth considered her offer for a long moment. It was just the offer he had come to win from her, and it was earned far more easily than he had expected. Part of him knew it was because she cared too much for this Peter, that the thought of him leaving and taking away any chance that she might have to see him again left her feeling desperate enough to walk into something that she had to know was a trap, but he ignored that traitorous voice.
"You must know that I haven't left everything the same since your abrupt departure. It will be impossible for you to find him this time, particularly with the changes. It would be better if you just stayed here and forgot about Peter, I'm certain I'll find a way to get you back to my world at a later date. Peter has been rightfully wished away and he is my property now." He smiled, letting those words sink in. He knew they would both eventually agree to the deal Sarah laid out, but that didn't mean he was above gloating about it for a few long moments.
The news that Jareth had changed the Labyrinth was mildly frustrating, but unsurprising. The thing had changed while she was in it, so changes were expected. Of course, Sarah had no way to know that the changes he meant were extensive.
Hearing Peter called property had her seething, anger warring with fear before the anger won again and she lifted her chin, the light in her green eyes defiant.
"If you don't take this deal, you'll never be certain I'll go with you someday, or that I'll stay there if I do go. But if I lose..." She shrugged, the action casual even if this moment was the polar opposite. "Well, a deal is a deal. Even I can't change that."
Knowing that she was right, Jareth had little choice but to give in. It was true that he could go back to his world, that she would likely ask for another meeting and be even more likely to sweeten the pot with a better deal, but he was not at all certain that the hold he had on Peter's powers would last until then.
"Alright," he sighed, shrugging his shoulders as he gave her a chiding look. "If you really want to go through all of that trouble to regain my property, I will allow it." It was all that he could do not to smirk. He knew that her first action in the Labyrinth would likely be to try to utilize some power of her odd boyfriend to get into contact with him, and she wouldn't be able to because those powers were gone. Though Jareth considered telling her what he had done so that he could gloat for a moment, he decided not to. He could watch the horror of the moment wash over her face once she discovered what he did just as well through his crystal ball.
Sarah waited a significant pause after he agreed to the deal before speaking, mostly to give Heidi time to act after hearing the agreement. The added benefit was that it gave her time to will herself not to go for Jareth's throat at Peter once more being referred to as property. He wasn't anyone's property, least of all the Goblin King's.
Catching the flash of purposeful movement out of the corner of her eye, Sarah finally did speak.
"This is exactly what I want," she said, the certainty and determination in her tone, in her very posture, undeniable as she faced Jareth eye to eye.
Jareth turned his attention too, his gaze darkening at the sight of THE WITCH. It would figure that she would find a way to come in and try to ruin this moment for him, but he wouldn't let her. Part of him feared that she would find a way to take Sarah away before she could actually travel to the Labyrinth and see her weak human boyfriend as he truly was without his 'powers.' Part of him thought THE WITCH might possess the powers of mind persuasion, and that she could talk Sarah into the 'more reasonable' option. He certainly didn't want Sarah to back out and leave him with a human that he had no desire to keep, even in Goblin form.
"Then look into there..." He thrust the crystal forward, the action more hurried than it would have been without the WITCH there distracting him. "Or stay here. The choice is yours."
It was a risky maneuver, doing what he said, and for a moment Sarah did hesitate. What if it was a trick? What if she trapped herself inside when she needed to be in the Labyrinth?
But it was only for a moment. For their plan to work, Jareth had to stay, which meant the crystal was her only chance to get there.
She turned her head, meeting Heidi's gaze for a moment in one of those ridiculously significant looks that they would mock in a movie any other day, yet today, wasn't out of place at all. Later, it would need to be mocked, when Peter was safely back.
Smiling briefly, in a 'I'm-worried-but-I'll-bring-him-back' fashion, she turned away and she did what she had sworn she would never do again, peering into that crystal.