He gave her no nightmares yet. He wandered, feeling her mind and soul, feeling the connection between them. Herald and Necrodemos. The victim and the destroyer. It was beautiful. He sought her out with slow, dark purpose. She was here inside her mind, hiding, cowering, waiting. He
found her.

She sat curled up in a chair, watching a window. Snowflakes fell outside it in the night. It was some memory of hers, something good. It disgusted him. He couldn't wait to shatter her reverie.

She turned around in the chair, her eyes pleading. "Don't," she said softly.

"I must, Aeris. You know this."

"But you won't even let me surrender!" she cried.

"Your surrender would mean nothing. I only want the fear."

"And when there is no fear?"

He laughed softly. "There will be madness. And I will leave you." He made the scene change, into a misty place of towers and bridges. His old fearscape, each stone so lovingly constructed of her desires and
secrets. She had driven him out of here and destroyed it, but she remembered it, and thus he could access it.

"Not again," she groaned. "I can't, I just can't..."

"Oh, Herald. You aren't being very sporting about this at all. I see so much in you. So much you must be saved from. To drive you mad might be a favor."

"What do you see?" she challenged.

His brow furrowed. It was true he did see things in her, things that could cause her great pain in her future. But what did it all mean? He didn't know. Prophecy wasn't his suit. But he didn't have to tell her that, did he? Let her figure it out.

"I see a bright fair sky above the Labyrinth. But a cloud hangs on the horizon, a cloud full of terrible things. I see a curse waiting to fall. And you, Herald, I see you at the center of a great lie."

"Shut up," she responded dully.

He turned his back on her and looked out into the mist. "This was my place once. You thought you were strong when you expelled me. But I was weakened and you were made stronger by intervention. Now we stand on proper footing. Poor Herald. Poor Aeris."

She balled her hands into fists, some of her numb fear going. "You wait and see," she warned.

"I will," he promised.

Livia entered the room, fresh and beautiful from her stolen emotions. She sang under her breath.

"Necrodemos?" she asked, looking down at the senseless Herald in the cell.

Aeris' eyes snapped open. The irises were a frightening black. "Yes, my dear?" she asked, in a dark voice not quite her own.

"So you are within her!" Livia knelt there. "How amazing..."

"Indeed," Necrodemos responded, favoring Livia with a sweet smile on Aeris' lips.

Her eyes went blue again. "Let me go!" Aeris shouted. But it was a momentary lapse. Necrodemos struggled briefly, took control, and Aeris' eyes were black once more as he pushed her back down inside her mind.

"It's rather involved for a feeding process, isn't it?" He looked out through the black eyes, down at the Herald's small artist's hands. "Such an intricate design. But how we fit together, she and I," he
mused.

Inside her own mind, Aeris was beginning to feel like a stranger. And she didn't like it. They stood on the bridge, Necrodemos looking out and speaking, his voice echoing around her. She could see in the swirling mist the image of Livia, leaning towards the bars of the cell. And she saw her own hand brush against Livia's. Necrodemos was flirting, she realized. It was in the lilt of his voice, the way he was
moving her body around. And for one moment, Aeris' temper completely overcame her fear.

She grabbed Necrodemos' shirt, pulling him back for an instant to face her. "If you want to court that thing, you can do it in your own body." And she pushed him off the edge.

Aeris' body jerked away from the bars suddenly. In the place where she'd been was a cloud of blue smoke. It poured out of the cell, and Livia backed away.

Necrodemos leaned into the bars and reached, grabbing Aeris' hair. He pulled her to him. He breathed hard, his handsome face dark with fury.

"You bitch," he hissed. "You want to do it the hard way, eh?"

She struggled against his hold on her long black tresses, but her movements quickly ceased as Necrodemos began to drain her emotion. She registered one moment of horrible surprise before going completely limp.

"Now..." Necrodemos said, beginning to change again, preparing to re-enter the broken Herald. But Livia put her hand on his shoulder.

"Wait," she whispered. "There will be time. We have much to discuss that she mustn't hear. Come with me now."

He turned to her. Under other circumstances, he might have declined, but Livia glowed with the emotions she'd taken, and her beauty charmed. Together, they walked out of the room. But not before he knelt at the side of the Herald and touched the white streak in her hair through the bars. "Sleep well, Herald. When I return, you'll have no more rest."

Aeris lay turned away from the bars, her hands clenched in tight fists, her fear and frustration overwhelming her. As the pair of villains left, she reached down into her pocket.

The Gatekeeper's thread was still there.

*****

Livia had ordered her servants to take Jerin to a dark room. Charlatan followed quickly knowing that resisting orders was not a wise idea. A few candles were brought in and he was put in shackles. Remaining chained to the wall his eyes began to flutter open. In distress she fell to his side.

"What happened to me?" he grimaced taking note of the doppelganger.

Charlatan didn't know exactly how to explain things. Sighing she began, "Estella and Jareth got away. Livia said I could have you but I couldn't make you love me."

Jerin scowled and pulled against the chains, "Damn it Charlatan! You know now I don't love you and I never will!"

Emotions welling up inside her she quickly turned away. "Why do you have to make it so obvious Jerin!" she screamed, "I can't help how I feel and no matter what I can do I can't give you your freedom."

He sighed and leaded his head against the wall. "How much influence do you have with your daughter?"

"I don't know Jerin. All I can guess is that I must have some influence with her or she would not of offered you to me." sighing again she slowly turned around to take a look at him, "But maybe if she didn't see you as a threat, she would give you more freedom."

"What are you talking about?" he said warily.

"If she thinks I'm on her side maybe you could submit to me. Say you love me and perhaps she will assume you are on her side as well."

Growling again his lip curled in rage, "I can't even say it."

Charlatan balled her hands up into fists and blinked her watery eyes, "Can't you even ACT like you care?" she screamed in fury.

"Get the hell out!" Jerin said pulling against the chains that bound him. Screaming, Charlatan left the room in a hurry.

*****

Aeris lay silently, exactly in the place Necrodemos had left her. She could barely move, she was so weak from being drained by him. It had been a rushed thing, a sudden, brutal act, one neither of them had been prepared for, really. But her hand was on the thread Euphoria had given her, and she was determined that Necrodemos wasn’t getting into her head again without a fight.

She looked around the dungeon. She wondered if it was empty. She had been locked in it before, when she was ten years old. Jareth’s twin sister, Calypso, who had been showing the madness she would later embrace, had tricked her into a cell…the very one she was currently in. Necrodemos must have seen to that; only he would have known. She had been imprisoned for two whole days in there, weeping and frightened and hungry, losing all sense of time in the darkness. She had finally been discovered by goblin cook who was concerned that the strange noises from beneath the kitchen was a trapped bird or monster. It was one of her most unpleasant memories, and as she looked around in the half-light from the torches Livia and Necrodemos had left going on the wall, she felt fear again…and she also felt manipulated and used. She reached out, grabbed one of the bars of the cell, and pulled herself up, her face set and angry.

"What a cheap trick," she muttered. "Really, Necrodemos…"

"Who’s there?"

Aeris quickly looked around. She saw nothing. "Who’s asking?"

"Charlatan."

Her blue eyes narrowed. "Get out. It’s not much, but it’s my dungeon, for now. And I would rather be left alone…"

The twin of the Storyteller wandered into the light, and Aeris saw with dismay that she firstly, had no intention of leaving, and secondly, that there was nothing Aeris could do about it. Furious, but too weak to do anything about it, she could only scowl as Charlatan advanced.

"I’m not bad," she said softly.

Aeris scoffed. "Right. You’re a real hero, Charlatan. A real hero…"

"You don’t have to be this way."

"Get me out of this cell and we’ll discuss it. Until then…" She managed a nonchalant shrug, but nearly lost her grip on the bars with the effort.

"What happened to you?" Charlatan asked softly.

Aeris felt self-pity well up and pushed it down. She cleared her throat. "Your daughter apparently taught Necrodemos a few new tricks. And unless I get out of here before they come back, I’m his for good."

She was silent.

Aeris shifted in position, tilting her head, looking out at the other woman. "Charlatan…that’s quite a name."

"Jerin gave it to me," she said, and her voice broke. "He said I was an imitation, a fake…" she sobbed. "But I was Estella! I…"

"You loved him," Aeris mused. But it was becoming harder and harder to remain detached from this weeping girl. Even in her fear, her heart went out to her. "And that part of it was real enough, wasn’t it?"

"I loved him," Charlatan said, wiping away tears. "I still do. But he hates me! All I wanted was something for myself! Didn’t I deserve that? After all that Jareth put me through!?"

Aeris nodded. "Yes, you did. But not Jerin. He belongs to Estella, Charlatan. And unless you see it, unless you let go of that dream of him, you will be very, very unhappy."

"I can’t help it!"

The Herald sighed, puzzling over it. Aeris could admit to herself that she knew very little about love, except that it was a power one didn’t trifle with. Her experience in it was limited, and she was suddenly frustrated by her inability to counsel Charlatan. So she told her what she believed, hoping she didn’t lead the young woman too far astray with her presumptions. "You can’t stop loving him, no. But think on this. If you truly love him as you say you do, can’t you let go of him? Can’t you do what he wants and let him be?"

Charlatan knelt down in front of the bars, and Aeris could feel a little of her strength returning. She reached out and touched Charlatan’s shoulder. "I do love him," the doppleganger sighed.

"I know…" She moved closer. "Charlatan…let me out."

"I can’t."

"The keys are on the wall, over there. Please…"

"Is that why you were being nice to me?" she hissed, drawing away from Aeris, standing, her face dark. "Is that all you wanted?"

"No…Charlatan! I just…Let me out of here so we can talk!"

The beautiful woman outside the bars shook her head. "No. I don’t trust you."

"I want to be friends, Charlatan, but if you don’t let me out of here, there won’t be anything left of me to be friends with! I’ll be no better than those drained zombies of your daughter’s!"

"So what?" she cried. "So what? You’re just like everyone else! You just want me to give up and get out of everyone’s way! You don’t care about me! And I don’t care about you!"

"Please," Aeris breathed, reaching out from behind the bars, still too weak. Her arm dropped, she leaned her head against the bars, cursing herself for hurting Charlatan…and effectively destroying her only chance at getting out. "I only wanted to be friends," she whispered.

But Charlatan was gone.

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