"Reclamation", Labyrinth (Jareth/Sarah), NC-17

[ladyofshadow.livejournal.com]

Title: Reclamation
Author: Ladyofshadow
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: sex
Word count: 1, 888
Prompt: Labyrinth, Jareth/Sarah: obsession, courting, plotting - the one man she couldn't get out of her mind...there had to be a way to get back to the labyrinth.
Author’s Note: A bit rushed to meet the deadline, then again, it’s fitting the way the pacing of events unfold (it kept wanting to me longer, lol!). It was tough to write (I’m a sucker for symbolism), but definitely worth the challenge. (As an aside, I’m such a hopeless romantic -_-;;)



Sarah pulled on the strapless dress and admired her body in the mirror. The bodice crisscrossed her breasts, in a pale vanilla sheen of silk chiffon that fell in a swirl to her knees. Picking up a hairbrush, she brushed the hair off her face, twisted it up into a chignon, and pulled a few tendrils at her ears so that they hung loose beside her face.

She slipped into a pair of silk moiré heels that matched the dress and twirled.

“Sarah? Are you coming?”

“I’ll be right there,” Sarah replied. She picked up an ivory mask, adorned with white feathers and jewels. Placing it on her face she opened the door and smiled to her date.

Toby took a few steps back. “I’ve never seen you so dressed up.”

“You’ve never gotten to go to the parties before little brother,” she said, ruffling his hair.

“Hey! I just combed that,” the rueful nine-year-old said, smoothing his hair. He adjusted the black mask on his face and smoothed his suit. Becoming serious he held out his arm, “May I escort you to the ball, my lady?”

“Of course, milord,” she said lightly.

They walked arm in arm, down the stairs to the ballroom proper of the estate.

“Food!” Toby’s eyes brightened behind his mask.

“Is that all you think about?”

“I’m starving,” he said. “I’ve been poked and prodded by the tailor all day.”

“Go get some food then,” Sarah said shooing him along.

“Bye Sarah,” he smiled brightly before running to the food.

Sarah moved through the crowd, being careful not to get caught between anyone. She really wasn’t in the mood to talk. Taking a champagne flute from a waiter’s tray, she leaned against the terrace doorway, listening to the musicians play Mozart in the ballroom. She sipped her champagne, images swirling through her head as the dancers twirled in the ballroom. Sweat beaded on her brow beneath the mask and she felt feverish.

She needed some air.

Walking outside she took a few deep breaths as the musicians played a concerto. The dancers took a reprieve and Sarah shook her head. Setting her glass to the side she absently swayed with the music, stepping down to a stone walkway.

She approached a series of hedges that formed a maze to the estate’s garden. Her fingers trailed along the hedge’s walls and the music grew fainter the deeper she ventured into the maze.

The sound of her heels echoed in the night, percussion to the string section of crickets.

Though it had been years since the labyrinth, there was times when she still felt its walls surround her, embracing her with a solidity that outweighed the imprisonment of being confined within its maze forever. For a short time she had convinced herself that everything she experienced was her imagination.

However, deep down she knew better.

By breaking free of the labyrinth, she lost a vital part of herself. When the gates to childhood slammed shut, the chains of adulthood weighed heavy on her. She traded one prison for another. In the end, she wondered if she chose the right one. It seemed that in the real world, there was no time off for good behavior, no parole from the drudgery of daily life, and no pardon for mistakes.

For a long time, she didn’t dream.

Though she read stories to Toby, her words were hollow. When she laid down every night for sleep, her mind was filled with darkness. She craved sensations that would make her feel alive.

Words she thought she had forgotten rose to her lips and she recited them:

“Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to take back what you have stolen.”

A partridge staggered across her path and flapped its wings, causing the sound to echo around her like drum beats.

Sarah took several steps back and watched the bird disappear into the foliage. The wind picked up, causing the trees to shower a cascade of flower petals. They whirled around her, kissing her skin softly before they became stuck in her hair and gown. She raised an arm to her eyes and backed into the trimmed hedges.

A low fog curled around her ankles before it rose around her body, pulling her into a white void.

“I may have stolen your inner child,” Jareth’s voice echoed around her. “But it is you who cast her aside when she was freed.”

“I thought that I was only saving Toby,” she whispered.

“It surprised me when you forgot about yourself,” he replied, “when the inner child was silenced.”

“I never quite understood why you wanted me,” she said. “The more you pursued me, the more I pushed away.”

“You made me feel things I hadn’t felt in years,” he said. “I felt fear and a bevy of emotions assaulted by senses: compassion, deep curiosity, and even joy. For years I had hid beneath my rage and power. Fear made me remember the feelings of humanity. It made me face my shame. When I thought I could finally face them, with someone at my side, you left.”

“You’ve been so alone haven’t you?”

The castle walls materialized around her and Jareth stepped forward.

“Many have come before me, making wishes of the Goblin King,” Jareth said. “But none affected me the way you did. You rejected me and no one had ever done that before. As such my inadequacies, my flaws rose to the surface.”

“I refused to attach to anyone living,” Sarah said. “Even returning from the labyrinth, I surrounded myself with objects. They can’t hold you at night. They can’t tell you that everything will be all right.”

“I can,” Jareth said. He closed the distance between them and gently removed the mask from her face.

Sarah had forgotten that the mask was even on. She stared into Jareth’s piercing eyes and her mouth fell open at the desire she saw.

He wanted her – Sarah knew it when his arms encircled her waist, pulling her tightly against his hardening body. His mouth seized hers in a hungry, consuming kiss.

What surprised her the most was that she wanted him too. The touch of his skin was electric and intoxicating.

Her fingers were clumsy and urgent when she tugged the buttons loose from his shirt, opening the fabric so that she could slide her hands along his chest.

Her hair tumbled down her shoulders, freed by Jareth’s hands. He slid his lips from hers to kiss the corner of her mouth, before trailing across her cheek to kiss the sensitive column of her neck.

“You came back to me of your free will,” Jareth murmured. “I’ve waited for you.”

“It feels like I’ve never left,” Sarah said. “But, I don’t understand this, any of this...”

“You took part of my labyrinth with you,” Jareth said. “It sat in your soul and now it has returned to its rightful home. You took part of me with you and its merging with me once again.”

They kissed again and Jareth walked her into the other room, keeping his lips firmly on hers.

Sarah pulled away. “Would you have done this to me before?”

“You were not ready then,” Jareth said. “But now, you’ve blossomed more than I ever could have hoped.”

The room tilted when she was brought down to the bed. His dexterous fingers loosed the dress from her body, baring her to the candlelight that filled the room. His eyes raked across her skin as he stripped with a controlled franticness, causing her to tighten low in her body.

Jareth drove into her with a force that tore a strangled cry from her throat and made her body arch.

“Are you all right?”

“Fine,” Sarah stammered. “I’m fine. Don’t stop.”

Jareth rocked his body back, pushing in slowly so that his tongue could tease her hardened nipples. She writhed beneath him and he groaned. With a quick nip at her breasts he quickened his rhythm, lifting her thigh against his leg so that she could angle himself deeper within her.

She bucked against him, digging her nails into the silken sheets, clawing at them like she would skin. The crests of the orgasms took her, coming in waves as he rode her and she cried out her pleasure.

He paused above her when he came, head hanging down, the edges of his pale hair plastered to his face for the final shudder. He kissed Sarah’s cheek and she turned to meet him, sucking on the salt of his lower lip.

He pulled out and lay beside her, hugging her close.

They fell into an exhausted sleep, wrapped around each other, bodies sticking together with sweat and fluids.

Jareth woke and stroked Sarah’s hair when she cooed in her sleep.

Sarah woke and smiled, cuddling against Jareth so that that their faces nearly touched. “You were beautiful.”

Jareth kissed her forehead. “I could say the same for you.”

Sarah blushed. “I don’t normally do this – that quick. It was just, I don’t know. I felt overcome and couldn’t stop myself.”

“I felt the same.” Jareth rose, pulling Sarah up with him. He kissed her cheeks, lingering as if to taste her blush. “I have something to show you.”

“I’m too sore to move,” Sarah whispered, her cheeks reddening even more.

“I’ll carry you,” Jareth said softly. He carried her in her arms, the sheets wrapped around her body. He walked out onto the balcony and looked to the distance. “Together we can create beauty in the labyrinth.”

Sarah looked and gasped. A waterfall glistened in the distance. “That wasn’t there before. Is it real?” The wind picked up around them and Sarah pressed her face against Jareth’s chest as they lifted from the ground.

A cool spray hit her bare back and Sarah lifted her face to stare in awe at the waterfall. “It’s lovely.”

Jareth set her down so that she could stand.

“I’ve never been this close to one before,” Sarah said. She approached the water and reached out her hand, the mist curving around her hand. Warm lips feathered the nape of her neck and the sheet spilled from her body. She arched back and Jareth’s hands caressed her arm, taking her hand. She tilted her head, rising on tiptoes, and they kissed.

Jareth placed his hand on her cheek, gently turning her body so that they pressed against each other.

Sarah raised a hand to his and sighed contently.

The ground trembled and flowers bloomed around them, circling out from their bodies.

“You can never go back,” Jareth said.

“I don’t want to,” Sarah said.

“What about your brother?”

Sarah’s face fell.

“Worry not, my love,” he said, kissing her forehead. “You may watch over him from here.”

Sarah nodded in relief and rested her cheek against him. “Did you call me ‘love’?”

“Yes,” Jareth said. “You’re not afraid, are you?”

“I am,” Sarah whispered.

“Of me?”

“A little,” she whispered again.

Jareth kissed her hair. “I am afraid as well. Love is the greatest obsession and I am slave to it.”

“At least you’re not alone,” Sarah said, closing her eyes, exhaustion taking over once again.

Jareth picked her back up and cradled her into his arms. “I'll be here when you wake from your dreams.”