The Next In Line

Chapter Three

 

The Next Day

It was a bright sunny afternoon, Toby walked to the park, it was the same one Sarah used to practice plays in or just sit and read, then when Toby got older she took him to play there. He sat down at the same bench he would sit with Sarah listening to her read him a story she would act out all the characters making the story more fun, he shook his head sadly after Sarah went away to college she changed never spending any more time with him or taking him to the park, she completely changed all she did was hang out with her college friends forgetting about him and her labyrinth friends, it made him angry so when her friends started to visit him they became friends and till this day Sarah never knows about it.

After their parents died, Sarah acted more like a parent to him then a sister; it makes him sad because he missed Sarah his sister he wishes she would come back.

He wiped the tears from his face then heard a voice “hello Toby”

Toby turned his head he saw Helena sitting next to him smiling at him, he looked at her seriously “why did you want to meet me here instead of my house?”

Helena took a deep breath and replied “I didn’t want your sister to hear me”

Toby looked at her confused “why not?”

She looked down then looked up at him sadly “it is kind of about her”

He looked at her and said “I knew you never liked her”

“No I don’t like her, but it’s not for the reasons you think” she told him

Toby crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a heated look “why don’t you like her?”

“She is killing my uncle” she tells him annoyed

Toby stared at her confused, he wasn’t sure what she was talking about and what she meant by that “so your uncle is an old fiancé of my sister?”

Helena looked at him and sighed frustrated “no, my uncle is Jareth”

Toby looked at her wide eyed “Jareth, from the story Labyrinth story”

She nodded her head at him, he started laughing then stopped when he noticed she was looking at him angrily “are you high?” he asked concerned

Helena stood up “no, of course not. I am telling you the truth”

Toby stood up pacing, she watched him then he turned and looked at her “so your Jareth’s niece”

“Yes” she said

Toby moved closer to her “so I really did meet Jareth yesterday”

“Yes” she replied sadly

“Why are you here?” he asked her

“Well after Sarah defeated my uncle” she said in a mean voice then calmed and spoke again “ten years later when my parents died, Jareth sent me up here to live with some people he knew that wanted children but couldn’t have any. So I came to keep an eye on you for Jareth”

Toby started to get angry “and you couldn’t tell me any of this”

Helena shook her head “no, not until my uncle needs you down in the underground”

“Let me guess your uncle needs me down there now” Toby said agitated

“Yes, he is getting worst and you need to claim the throne” Helena tells him

Toby looked at her as if she was talking another language and couldn’t understand her “wait a minute, Jareth picked me to take over the throne for him”

“Yes” she said

Toby started to pace again it was a lot for him to take in a digest all the information he was told, before he could turn around someone grabbed him, he started to struggle in the person’s arms, the person turned him around and saw Helena being held by a woman an arm around her waist holding her tight and a hand over her mouth her eyes were open wide with fear staring at Toby he looked the same at her.

Helena watched Toby and the man holding him disappears before her eyes; the woman holding her dropped Helena hard on the ground and disappeared.

Helena looked all around she got scared “Sarah” she said and disappeared

 

Helena reappeared outside Sarah’s door and knocked, Sarah opened the door surprised to see her “didn’t you meet Toby at the park?”

Helena looked at her scared “yes, but something happened to him, I need to talk to you”

Sarah gave her an afraid look “okay come inside”

Helena walked in, Sarah closed the door behind her and they both sat on the couch “what happened to Toby?”

“He got kidnapped and brought into the underground” she told her

“WHAT!!!” she shouted as she stood up

Helena took a calming breath “it is not by who you think, it’s from someone else”

Sarah sat back down next to her “and who do you think, I think took him”

“Jareth my uncle” she said simply

Sarah gave her a surprised look; she didn’t say anything for a moment then said “Jareth is your uncle?”

“Yes and it is because of you that my uncle is dying” she told her sadly

“Jareth is dying?” Sarah asked she couldn’t believe what she was hearing

Helena nodded “how is it my fault?”

“Jareth is dying of a broken heart that you caused” she argued

“How did I cause it?”

“you had to go back home and couldn’t stay with him, our kind dies from broken hearts, it could be right away or take years depending on how deeply a person loves the other person”

It was a lot for Sarah to take in she replied “If I knew Jareth would die of a broken heart I never would have left him”

“My mother told me stories of you and Jareth” she blurted out

Sarah smiled “really, what happened to your mother?”

Helena looked sadly and had tears in her eyes “My father went to war, for the same reasons you have here, and died on the battle field. An army led by Rupert who kidnapped Toby just now, broke into my uncle’s castle where my mother was protecting Jareth and got killed by Rupert”  

“I am so sorry” Sarah said sincerely

Helena sniffled “I know you are, because your parents died too”

“What stories did your mother tell you?” Sarah asked sounding interested

“my mother Gabrielle was Jareth’s little sister, she loved him a lot and looked up to him, he was very fond of her but I know it hurts him to look at me because he says I look just like her. There were times that he was so out of it that he would call me Gabrielle”

Sarah smiled sadly at that and Helena continued “my mother told me that Jareth loved you a lot, that he first fell in love with you before he met you”

“Really” Sarah said flattered

Helena smiled at her and continued “he watched you on his visit here, playing in the park pretending to be a princess and captured waiting for a knight to save you”

“I was ten then, I remember that” Sarah said smiling fondly at the memory

“He had a friend of his Jeremy who is now with your mother give you the Labyrinth book and everything that had to do with our world”

“I never knew Jeremy knew Jareth”

Helena didn’t answer just nodded and continued her story “my mother said that Jareth was very evil, cold hearted and selfish. Whenever he wanted something he would just take it, he never cared for the person’s feelings until you came along”

“What do you mean” Sarah asked

“He could never be cruel to you” she told her

“But he was cruel to me” she tells her

“Actually Sarah he wasn’t, if you looked at him closely. You would see that he was fighting hard to be evil to you but he just couldn’t do it”

Sarah didn’t know what to say to that, Helena spoke again “you dreamt about him a lot, you brought him into your dreams. The dream you had, was one of yours wasn’t it?”

Sarah nodded, not speaking wanting to see where Helena was going with this. “My uncle brought that dream do life, do you know why?”

Sarah shook her head “come on Sarah think. “Why did my uncle use that dream above all others”

Sarah gave her a blank stare, Helena shook her head and sighed annoyingly and she figured Sarah just didn’t want to tell her, so she continued “before you thought of Toby, what were you about to say to Jareth?”

Sarah just kept staring at her “come on Sarah I know you know” she pushed

Sarah took a breath and replied “it was that dream I realized I fell in love with Jareth and I was going to tell him until I remembered about Toby”

Helena didn’t say anything she smiled big at her “My mother said you changed him after that he became selfless caring about other people over himself”

Sarah smiled at that “I bet you didn’t know that Jareth and Hoggle were best friends”

Sarah started to laugh, Helena smiled at her “it’s hard to imagine they were best friends, what happened?”

“What always happens between best friends, a girl comes between them” Helena told her

“Who was the girl?” Sarah asked fascinated

“Her name was Autumn she is an Elf, she dated both of them, but of course she never chose one over the other, but as soon as Jareth and Hoggle stopped being friends, she dumped them both”

“So Autumn just wanted to drive a wedge between them” Sarah said disgusted

“Yes” Helena said

“How long were Jareth and Hoggle friends for before that?” Sarah asked

“Since they were kids, the thing with Autumn happened when they were teens” Helena said

“But Hoggle works for Jareth” She said

“Actually Hoggle started working for his father” she replies

“Oh” Sarah said then she started thinking “but Hoggle and Jareth still hate each other is it still over Autumn?”

Helena shook her head “no it’s not, it’s because they are both in love with you”

Sara hat first started laughing nervously then stopped “Hoggle is in love with me” she said in disbelieving tone

Helena nodded her head smiling.

“Has there ever been anyone in Jareth’s life before me?”

“There was Eve” Helena said

“Who is Eve?” Sarah asked curious

“My mother told me about her, she was the kind of woman who wanted power and to have a title and she knew Jareth would give it to her. Everyone thought he loved her, but found out she never loved him, she just used him for his magic and to be queen”

“That’s terrible” Sarah said

“Eve even tells everyone that Jareth got her pregnant, but he never believed her” Helena said

“Could it be possible?” Sarah asked

“My mother said it could be possible, but there was never any proof” she said

“So what happened to Eve?” she asked

“No one really knows, they see her at balls, she never talks to anyone. She just keeps to herself” Helena told her

“Thanks for telling me all this” Sarah said

“Welcome” Helena said smiling

Sarah looked seriously at Helena; she could still see the sadness in her eyes every time she talked about her parents or Jareth. She already lost her parents and now because of her she will lose her uncle too and it will be all her fault.

“I will go with you to save Toby and help out Jareth anyway I can” Sarah told her

Helena smiled excitedly “thank you, thank you so much. I promise you won’t regret it”

“I hope not” Sarah said

“Ready to go” Helena asked holding her hand out to her.

Sarah looked at the dog Harry “can he come too, he is Toby’s dog”

Helena looked at the dog who gave her sad puppy dog eyes, she shrugged her shoulders “I don’t see why not”

Sarah grabbed the leash and put it on the dog, then they all disappeared, they reappeared in Jareth’s room.

Sarah looked around the room, she then noticed Jareth sleeping in bed, he was sweating but was also shivering, which must be why he heavy blankets covering him up, she felt so guilty doing this to him. His face looked so pale if only there was something she could do.