Easy Come, Hard to Go

AN: I know... I know... *hangs head* I was a bad, bad girl. I got bombarded by my
boyfriend. He actually wanted to go shopping! How could I say no? And the season
finale for Survivor was on. I was trapped and I gave in. I let my people down and I will
take ANY punishment you wanna dish. As long as it is long and hard. No pussy
whipping will be allowed...unless it’s mine. *grins*

Chapter 15

Max sat at his kitchen table. It had been three days since Toby and Crystal had left and
neither of them had dropped a word of being ok.

*Great. First Sarah, now Toby and Crystal. What did I do to deserve this?*

Max got up from the table and walked into the living room. He looked at the pictures
hanging on the wall. Pictures that held memories, some he couldn’t live with, and
others he couldn’t bare to go without. He gazed at the picture of his wife and himself on
their wedding day.

*She smiled so beautifully.*

He looked from various school pictures of Toby and Sarah. Each one showing the
taxing life the three had gone through. It seemed like overnight that Sarah went from a
young girl to the wonderfully woman she was today.

*If she’s even still alive.*

Max sighed and headed towards the stair case. The floor creaked as he slowly made
his way up the desolate hallway. Pictures lined the incline and he stopped to look at the
only family portrait they had done. He smiled a little as the tears welled in his eyes.
Toby, so small and frail in his mother’s arms and Sarah, smiling like her life depended
on it. He looked over his younger self, holding onto his wife.

*I let her down.*

Max finished his way up the stairs and headed for his bedroom. As he made his way
past the hall mirror, he didn’t notice the lingering figure following behind.
He walked in the bedroom and closed the door behind him. He walked to his closet and
reached up behind his bowling ball and found a leather case, zipped closed. He sat
down on his bed and unzipped the bag.

He pulled out a newspaper clipping and his trembling hands made the paper shake
violently. It didn’t matter. The clipping was burnt into his mind. He didn’t need to read,
he knew it all by heart.

“ONE DEAD IN UNFORTUNATE FIRE....Today in an unfortunate fire, a mother of two
and a wife was killed. We are told by a officer from the scene that the father awoke
when he smelled smoke and ran to get their two children out of the house. When the
three reached outside, a large explosion emerged and the fire department would not let
him return in. After the man was subdued and the children were tended, the officers
searched the rubble to find the body of the 36 year old woman. Funeral services are
being arranged....”

*Those bastards, if only they would have let me back in.*

Tears began to stream down his face.

*Why didn’t I wake her up?*

Max broke down and pulled out the burnt wedding dress, soaking it in his tears. He
sobbed for a long while and when his tears finally subsided, he decided he had had
enough.

“What do you want from me?” he screamed and shook his fists to his ceiling.
“What did I do to disserve this? Why do you keep taking the people I love away from
me?” Max crossed over to the closet again and pulled out another case. “I cant take
this anymore. First my wife, then my daughter, and now my son?” Max opened the case
and pulled out the gun. “Fuck this,” he loaded a shell into the chamber, “fuck you,” he
cocked the gun, “fuck being alone!” Max screamed and held the gun to his head.
“FUCK ALL OF THIS!”

Max squeezed the trigger and squeezed his eyed shut. He heard the shell move into
the neck of the gun and felt the rush of air come from the barrel. But, when no shell
entered his head he slowly opened his eyes. As the gun fell to the floor, Max began to
cry again as he stared at the luminescent figure.

“Persphonie?”

“Max, do you really want to do that?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

If silence could take on a form, it would have been rolling like fog into the city square. It
sat so thick between the company that someone could have cut it with a knife. Jareth
stood in front of the two Sarah’s, who sat on the fountain wall. Micheal, with a shit
eating grin on his face, stood off watching his brother squirm under the pressure.
Crystal sat healing Toby’s arm as best she could. Toby, who was now gaining his
consciousness back, fluttered in and out of the world in front of him.

“Alright,” Jareth thought for a moment and then turned to face the Sarah’s, “here is my
first question. What’s my animal form?”

Both of the Sarah’s began to write on the parchment that had been given to them.
When they had finished, both turned them around simultaneously and both had written
“owl.”

“Right,” Jareth sighed and rubbed his eyes, “question two. “

Jareth asked everything from what the false alarms were, to what did the firey’s like
doing. And on top of that, every question was answered exactly alike. He couldn’t
believe it. Every movement was almost the same. They tossed their hair the same, they
sighed the same, Jareth swore they even blinked at the same time. He couldn’t think of
anything that every one would know. Ordinary things were of no use and he couldn’t
ask any real personal questions. He didn’t want Sarah to know he was watching her
that much. He was sure she probably hated him for all she was put through already.

“Ok, here’s a good one.” Jareth walked towards the two and beckoned them to stand.
After both of them were standing, Jareth bowed to the Sarah on the left, which was
Lielle.

“Dance with me.”

Lielle blushed a little and nodded. She reached out and grabbed Jareth’s hand and let
him sweep her into his arms. When they started swaying, Jareth began to hum. Soon,
their dancing became more elaborate and Jareth began to sing.

“There’s such a sad love, deep in your eyes. A kind of pale jewel, open and closed with
in your eyes, I place the sky within your eyes.”

Lielle let her head fall on Jareth’s shoulder and she almost lost it when she glanced at
Sarah and she was beet red. In Sarah’s eyes, daggers were boring into Jareth’s back
as she watched the love of her life sing her song to him. Jareth spun her around with
such grace. He barely looked like he was touching the ground, more like floating. He
looked like a god. Sarah’s god. She felt her stomach churned as Jareth pulled Lielle
closer and held her tight against his body, running his hands up and down her back.
Sarah watched in amazement as Jareth dipped Lielle down and planted a long, deep
kiss on her lips. She did everything she could to not tare into him and make that bitch
feel her pain.

“Alright,” Jareth said straightening his shirt, “your turn.”

Jareth reached for Sarah’s hand and grabbed it. Sarah’s insides lurched as her skin
flared from his touch. He didn’t know how much he meant to her. She never got the
chance to tell him and the one time she did, she lead him on. Which reminded her, she
still had her punishment coming. She leaned into his chest as he pulled her close and
began to dance with her. He whirled her around in circles, but she didn’t get dizzy. She
was too enthralled in his mismatched eyes. They looked at her with such compassion.
When he began to hum, Sarah began to imagine the first time she heard the song. The
beautiful ballroom, the elaborate costumes. She imagined herself in that peach dress
with her hair in the ringlets, strung with pearls. She thought about the woman who were
completely drunk, flaunting themselves in front of Jareth. But, he had chose to dance
with her.

“I’ll paint you mornings of gold, I’ll spin you valentine evening’s, though were strangers
till now, were choosing our path between the stars, I’ll lay my love, between the stars.”

*Yeah, I’d definitely let you lay me between the stars.* Sarah smiled into Jareth’s
shoulder.

“Is something funny?” Micheal’s voice broke Sarah’s dream in half and she opened her
eyes to look in the direction of the voice. She cursed him in her head, but then decided
it would be better to do it out loud. She moved away from Jareth to yell at him, but
tripped over the dress on her body.

*But, I wasn’t wearing a dress...* Sarah stood and looked at Jareth who was awestruck
at the beauty standing in front of him. He smiled to himself as he patted himself on the
back. *She remembered.* He thanked the gods that she had. That was the only
personal moment he could think of.

“Sarah?” Jareth walked forward and stretched his hand out. “This, this is my Sarah.”

“Are you sure?” Micheal walked between the two and grinned a little.

“Only Sarah would know about the dress and the ballroom.” Jareth said turning his
attention to Micheal, forgetting that Lielle was watching with an evil eye. Micheal waved
a hand at her and she reacted with precision. She quickly changed her clothes and
walked behind the feuding brothers. Standing next to a bewildered Sarah, she cleared
her throat and the two brothers and Sarah turned their heads.

“You bitch!” Sarah called out.

“You mean you! How dare you change yourself into my most precious memory!” Lielle
called.

“Oh that is it!” Sarah lurched forward and grabbed Lielle by her throat. “I have had
enough of you being a copy cat. Go find your own life and stop living mine!”

Lielle tugged on Sara’s hands. When she found that to be at no avail, she began to pull
at her hair. Sarah let go and the two backed off from each other.

“Well, if you dont like copy cats,. then you should look in the mirror because that’s all
you are is a mirror image of something you wish you were!” Lielle yelled at the top her
lungs.

“Enough!” Jareth yelled and the two of them looked at him. “I have had enough of this
game. One more question and I think I will have it.” Jareth walked in front of the two
and turned to stare each of them in the eye for a second. “I want to know the names of
the three friends you abandoned after you left my Labyrinth.”

“Oh well,” Lielle jumped into the question first, ”Ludo, Hoggle, and Sir Didymus.” Lielle
smiled as she saw Sarah’s face go red.

“First off, they are NO FRIENDS to you.” Sarah yelled at Lielle. “And even IF they
actually knew you, they wouldn’t like you. Slimy snakes aren’t their type. And neither
are sluts, so that’s two strikes on you.” Sarah turned to Jareth and began to walk
towards him. “And you,” she pointed at the back peddling goblin king, “how dare you
say I abandoned them. What was I supposed to do? People though I was crazy! First I
lost my mom, then you came and stole my little brother, made me want something that I
knew I couldn’t have, leave me with all the dreams of us being together, both in life and
in the bedroom, you left me with NOTHING JARETH, nothing, and then you DARE to
even think I abandoned them? You better watch your mouth, you arrogant asshole. I
DO not want to be pushed right now!”

Sarah stopped inches from Jareth’s face and took her right index finger and shoved in
his chest a couple times for added effect. “So just bug off.”

Jareth grabbed Sarah’s arm and pulled out his sword.

“You dare talk to me like that?” Jareth held the sword at Sarah’s throat and grinned a
malicious grin.

“Fuck you and your ego. You ever wanna be with me, we are going to have to talk
about your fucking other head and its asshole ways.”

Jareth smiled into Sarah’s eyes and put the tip of his sword on her throat. He slowly
walked towards the two watching, loving the fact that this girl was daring enough to take
on the mighty king and now, now they were ready to see her head roll for it.

“Micheal, I’ve made my decision.”

Michael’s eyes flashed with anticipation. “And what is that?”

Even before Micheal got the words all out, Jareth’s sword was embedded in Lielle’s
chest. Sarah screamed as Jareth threw her to the ground and whipped his sword over
to the imposter. As the sword hit Lielle, a bone splitting sound erupted from the girls
body. She grabbed at the sword, trying desperately to pull it out.

“Micheal, help me.” Lielle grabbed at Micheal’s hand as she slowly slid to the ground.
Micheal looked at the pathetic girl asking for his help. He lifted an eyebrow and raised
his leg. “Get off me you bitch.” Micheal kicked at the whining girl, digging his foot into
her rib cage. “Your worthless. You cant even fool someone into thinking your somebody
else.” Micheal walked over to stand over the dying girl. “You deserve to die.”
Lielle’s body shook with pain as she did everything she could to pull at the sword in her
chest. Blood starting pooling around her body as she changed back into herself. She
coughed and sputtered, blood flying from her mouth.

“You... asshole.” she breathed out at Micheal.

As the blood began to creep towards Micheal, he back away as if he was going to die if
he touched it. Lielle’s body finally stopped shaking and she stopped her labored
breathing. Her limp body began changing again as the young woman transformed into
her snake form. The long snake was pale yellow and the sword, which was still clinging
to her chest, was dwarfed by its size. Jareth walked forward and pulled his sword from
the beast with a thickening slurping noise.

“As for you,” Jareth turned and faced Micheal.

Micheal held up his hands and grinned. “Say no more, brother. I am gone.” And with
that Micheal winked at Sarah and disappeared. Jareth cursed into the air and threw his
sword to the ground.

“Jareth?” Sarah squeaked out. “Is, is he gone?”

“I highly doubt it.” Crystal spoke out again.

“As do I,” Jareth agreed, ignoring Sarah as he walked to his sister, “how is Toby?”

“He’s ok. In and out of consciousness.” Crystal smiled warily.

“We need to get him home.” Sarah said rushing to his side.

Jareth nodded. “Your father will be worried.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Alright... there you go... another chapter
just for you guys. And just to let you know
this is far from being over. And if you think
Micheal is actually down... well you dont pay
that good of attention to my story do you? Thanks
for all the reviews and support and about me becoming
a scratching post... Where do I sign up?