Breaking Barriers (Chapter 28 up)

Jareth couldn't believe what was happening to him. He had warned himself that an argument with Sarah was perhaps not the best route, yet he had engaged in one anyhow. Even without a magical gown she seemed to be doing a fair job of manipulating him. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened. The only thing he could tell himself is that he simply seemed to have forgotten his caution the moment Sarah had stomped her way into rehearsal the other day.

Ever since his latest close encounter with Sarah, Jareth had not been feeling quite like himself. Jareth had completely let his guard down for the first time since his destruction. At the time he had felt an exquisite release, and Sarah's tender touch had only made it all the sweeter. But now he felt terrible misgivings about having done so. The kiss had been his first strike, and he had tried yet again to tamp down the feelings Sarah was invoking in him. But the "confession" had opened a whole other floodgate of emotions that Jareth simply could not sort through. He had finally earned his hard-won time with Sarah, yet he felt he had ruined all that he had gained in his recent actions.

It seemed Sarah's powers were not only to blame. The moment she had appeared at that first rehearsal, so clearly put out, it seemed that his scrupulous plans to perhaps try a more gentle approach had vanished. Sarah's unique ability to get a rise out of him seemed to be more or less a phenomenon. Whenever Sarah was in the vicinity the temptation to dominate simply became too much to bear. Once again he had succumbed to it. And what did he have to show for it? Absolutely nothing. Sarah had gained the upper hand once again.

And now, Jareth felt like the epitome of failure. The betrayel he was experiencing was of the worst possible kind. He felt he had lost trust in the one person whom he had thought he could put his faith in without question.

Himself.

He was at a loss as how to proceed. Therefore, he did nothing. Yet each day Jareth fought many battles with himself. His emotions were churning within him. After his confession it was as if something had broken loose.'Doing nothing' was not something the Goblin King was used to, and now that Sarah had surprisingly returned his complacency, Jareth found it even more difficult to refrain from what he longed to do.

To take Sarah as his own.

He knew the idea was preposterous. Dimly, Jareth wondered at how this mere girl could have broken him down in only a matter of a few days, but unlike before, this thought did not dampen his attraction. If anything, it enflamed it.

He knew he was wasting precious time with Sarah. Soon the play would be over and she would be gone forever. He was more or less stalling, hoping there was some other option he could take. He could not trust himself to do what was best for his kingdom anymore. As much as he despised admitting he was afraid, he felt there was no other way of putting it. Yes, he was afraid. He was afraid of interacting with Sarah, he was afraid he was losing his powers and he was afraid he was allowing the destruction of his kingdom. He was no longer certain of his techniques in garnering her powers and he had even become afraid of administering them.

And what else did he have that could possibly gain her acquiescence?

So far not a thing had come to mind.

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Sarah was escorted back to her room after another annoyingly uneventful rehearsal. Why did Jareth have to be so damned depressing? For a while there, Sarah had thought that maybe they had had a good thing going. She had hoped that after the first rehearsal things would have continuously gotten better, but no, now it was just really really dull. Sarah flopped down on her bed and opened her script to the seventh scene. It had the same ridiculous plot as the others. Her character had just been miraculously saved by the Goblin King yet again, this time from the Bog of Eternal Stench. She fawned and flattered Jareth in a rather revolting manner, thanking him for his heroic feats. In a way, Sarah couldn't help but empathize with her character this time. She supposed she would be thanking Jareth as well if he had rescued her from the disgusting, foul smelling bog. Sarah gave a little shudder, remembering the experience vividly.

Sarah continued reading absentmindedly, wondering if this story would ever get any better, when she came upon a very familiar event. One that had haunted her dreams relentlessly before coming back to the Underground.

Sarah read in fascination and apprehension as her character ate the peach that had sent her reeling into the vivid fantasy world Sarah had experienced first hand. However, in the Goblin King's rendition, Jareth had actually "treated" her himself, offering her the drugged fruit as a way to calm her frayed nerves after her horrific ordeal in the bog. Immediately her character appeared woozy. It was clear that a hallucination of sorts was taking place. Sarah was rather impressed that Jareth had managed to stick to her descriptions of the strange experience rather well in this section. It had been one of the most confusing and bizarre moments of Sarah's life. Sarah read the italicized words conveying actions. Her character had begun dancing. Sarah quickly began to lose interest again once the characters engaged in a conversation that had never truly taken place.

Yeah yeah, Sarah thought to herself. You're handsome this, you're breathtaking that... Boy, Jareth sure thought a lot of himself. This play seemed to be as much of a tribute to the Goblin King as it was an embarrassment for Sarah.

But then, Sarah read something that jolted her awake, and she realized that as much as she had grown accustomed to the Goblin King lately, he could still manage to shock her.

In italics Sarah read the action: Sarah, unable to contain herself any longer, embraces Jareth in a passionate kiss.

Sarah stared at the page, feeling her face turning red.

What? She was expected to... kiss that man again? And not only that, she had to 'passionately' initiate it?

Not even bothering to finish reading the no doubt sickening conclusion to the scene, Sarah immediately began pacing around her room in a fury. It was one thing to subject herself to Jareth's perversions inanely stating everything she knew he secretly loved to hear, but this? This was going too far!

Ohhh, she was going to let Jareth have it tomorrow! She didn't care if he hadn't been provoking her for the past week. The fact that she hadn't confronted him already about the injustices she had been put under was only because of Sarah's good merit. She had been patient up until now, calmly reciting her lines because Jareth had clammed up. But she didn't care anymore. She didn't know what was up with Jareth. If he suddenly was acting remorseful now why hadn't he even had the decency to apologize for all he had put her through? She hated how his attitude towards her seemed to change with the wind, and damn it she was even a bit hurt now that it was clear she had been mistaken about their mutual understanding.

Well she wasn't going to take his spineless behavior anymore. She was going to hurt him now that he was down, just as he always seemed to do to her. Tomorrow she would confront him about what was really going on, and heaven forbid if she took some sadistic enjoyment out of the experience.

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A/N Sorry this chapter took so long... we're experiencing some crappy weather where I live and adultfanfic.net was down almost the entire day yesterday.

Thanks for the reviews, especially to the two who have just joined us :D And as always, thanks for reading ~TheArtist