For Love -- Chapter 4

"Say, here in the dark?
Would you, could you, in the dark?"
--Dr. Suess, Green Eggs and Ham

Aeris approached the very literal light at the end of the tunnel. There was a shape silhouetted in the light. She drew closer.

And she started to scream.

She was seeing the third picture from her canvas. The crone before the lamp. There was a table out before her, and she was laying down cards. She paused as Aeris screamed.

"Welcome," she said, her voice almost genial. Almost. She pulled off the hood of her cloak. "It’s not all that bad, is it?"

She was not a crone. She was a beautiful young woman with red curls…and eyes like flint.

The scream died away in her throat and she was left croaking breathlessly. She quickly shut her mouth. The woman was smiling, but it was like a parody of a smile, like the flash of light across the steel of a sword.

"No," Aeris said finally.

"A Herald, aren’t you?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"Are you willing to pay my price?"

Aeris paused. "Yes," she said finally.

The woman’s smile widened.

"Ah. Then these are for you." She picked up the cards from the table in one sweeping motion, and stacked them together. "We will do a reading. Tell you what you want to know." She glanced at Aeris. "Come closer, rose-born."

That was the last thing Aeris wanted to do. She had crawled through the darkness for this? A Tarot reading? And by this crazed, strange hag? Sure, she looked like a beautiful woman, but Aeris knew a hag when she saw one. She thought of Inigo, of Fezzik waiting outside, of Sarah and Jareth and her promise to return, and stepped forward.

Laughing, the Sea Witch shuffled the cards. And she picked a handful. She tossed them up, and they fell haphazardly on the table, all face down.

Aeris frowned, protesting. "This is not a Tarot reading. They’re just laid out any old way, this doesn’t mean anything…"

The witch was looking at her with those wickedly interested eyes and Aeris found she didn’t want to continue. The witch finally looked back at the cards, one hand reaching for them. She paused. Then she went back into her deck and pulled one more, holding it out to Aeris.

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot. The first card is for you, Herald."

Aeris hesitated.

"Go on," the witch told her, smiling in her horrible way. "It won’t bite."

Yes, but you might Aeris thought, and quickly reached out and took the card.

She looked at the witch a moment longer before she dropped her eyes to the card. Aeris was vaguely familiar with the Tarot; she had seen people use it time and again. Titania herself was capable of reading the cards well. And she knew the card in her hand.

The picture itself was ghastly. A man was suspended upside down, nails through his hands and feet. His face was not properly pictured, but the shapes that formed it made a caricature of pain.

The Sea Witch cackled. "The Hanged Man. Redemption through sacrifice. Suffering, punishment, loss, defeat, failure…death."

Aeris clenched her jaw and took a breath, looking back at the witch. "Do the other cards."

She laughed again, and turned over the first. A man on a golden horse, his face obscured, two swords in his hands. "The Knight of Swords. The fiery part of air. He is a man, skillful, active. Fierce and courageous, but delicate. Clever, but often unreflective. Your prize."

"Inigo?" asked Aeris.

The witch did not answer. She flipped the next card. Three swords hung against a dark sky, tearing a rose to pieces. "Hmmm. The Three of Swords. Sorrow. Unhappiness. Absence and separation."

Aeris frowned. It made no sense. "Explain this," she prompted.

"No," the Sea Witch replied simply.

She turned the next card. A horrible red row of swords dripped blood. "The Nine of Swords," she said. And then she laughed. "Cruelty! Agony of mind, suffering and despair! Yes, that’s me to a tee," she said, grinning fiercely.

The Herald was becoming more confused by the second. There was no sense in this, none at all.

Her cackling laughter died away as she flipped the next card. A beautiful woman sat with her long hair winding around her, her face turned away to the sky. The card was bathed in beautiful hues of blue and pink. "The Star," she hissed at the trump. "Hope, help, insight…" She waved a hand at it. "Bah!"

She turned the next. It was upside-down, but Aeris could see the circle of six swords piercing the heart of a cross. The witch clapped her hands once. "Ah! The Six of Swords. A confession…" She narrowed those hard green eyes and peered at Aeris. "How have you sinned, little rose-born?"

Aeris was about to say she hadn’t, and then Sarah’s face came to her. "Go on," she ordered the witch. There were three cards left on the table.

The next was a man riding a chariot, surrounded by fire. He was smiling. "The Prince of Wands," the witch murmured, as if confused. "The airy part of air. A young man, swift, strong, impulsive…violent, but just. A sense of humor. Hmph. Proud and cruel."

"Stop," Aeris pleaded. "Explain it to me."

"Be silent, and all will be made clear, rose-born."

"Stop calling me that."

The witch ignored her. She turned the next card. Eight cups stood there, yet only two were filled, spilling down to the ones below. Aeris didn’t like it. The witch responded with a bright little smile.

"Indolence. Abandoned success. Misery and repining."

"Thanks," Aeris snapped.

"Don’t mention it," the Sea Witch replied. She turned the last card.

It was the simplest card. Eight swords, six across and two long swords laid over them. "Crisis. Conflict. Power enchained." She frowned.

"I don’t understand!" Aeris cried. "You won’t explain it to me! What does it mean? I won’t pay for this, you were supposed to tell me what my painting meant! What the hell is all this?"

The witch reached for her bag wordlessly and snatched the painting. She laid the canvas out on the table beside the cards. Aeris gasped.

The set of the cards was exactly the way the scenes were on her canvas.

The Knight of Swords. Inigo.

The Three of Swords. That clear hand with the fish swimming in it. Loss. Inigo’s captivity.

The Nine of Swords. The Sea Witch, the hag blocking the light, cruelty. Aeris found she could not argue that this woman meant her anything but harm.

The Star. The white dragon on the sky. It was a good thing, it was hope…but it still held no more meaning for her than that.

The Six of Swords. The Sphinxes. The painting was somehow familiar there, as was the next two scenes, the mirror and the tower. A confession? She didn’t understand what that had to do with a confession…but the knowledge seemed to be within her somewhere, nagging at her consciousness.

The Prince of Wands. The mirror. What did that mean? Again, it was like the Sphinx. She knew the answer, but she didn’t know it.

The Eight of Cups. The tower. Indolence. Was she to give up? She didn’t see how.

The Eight of Swords. The gates. Conflict, crisis…final battle?

Frustrated, Aeris put her hands to her head. "This doesn’t explain everything," she insisted.

"Of course not. Because you must go to Fantasia to know the rest."

There. The pieces clicked into place in Aeris’ mind. She knew, it all made sense. She glanced at the witch. "Fantasia?"

"Don’t you remember? The Auryn."

She nodded slowly, distantly. Yes…oh, yes, she remembered the Auryn. And Atreyu. And the Child-like Empress…the stories from her childhood. She remembered sitting beside Calypso and Jareth and Stephan as her mother spun the most fabulous tales about Fantasia. What had been the one they asked her to tell again and again? When she was no more than eight…

"I am Atreyu!" little Stephan called in her mind, as he struggled to stand on the fountain in the garden.

"Then I am Bastian," said Jareth smugly from below. "You do all the work, and I give the Empress her new name."

The Nothing! The tale of the Nothing, that had been the story!

Aeris didn’t notice the smile of pleasure lighting her own face as she recalled those things.

But then her smile froze, changed, melted away.

"Fantasia," she said slowly, "does not exist."

The witch laughed cruelly. "If you believe that, you really are doomed, little rose-born!" Then something like pity shaped on her face. "Take my advice. Forget. Go home to your friends."

Shades of Jareth's words. Go back to your room, play with your toys and your costumes... "I…I can’t."

She smiled again. It was genuinely horrid. "Fine."

Aeris took a breath, trying to remember. The Sphinxes and the Mirror were the gates to the Southern Oracle. Tests. And why must she go to the Southern Oracle? She glanced back to the witch.

"Only the Southern Oracle knows where Inigo Montoya is being kept."

"Then…?"

"Oh, yes, he is alive. And his captor waits for you."

"Who is his captor? Can’t you tell me?"

"No," the witch answered. "The Oracle will tell you."

She sighed.

"And now," the Sea Witch said, standing slowly. "It is time to collect my payment."

Aeris involuntarily backed away from her. "And that would be?"

The witch smiled. "Something precious."

"I don’t have anything of value," she began.

"You have so much I want. I don’t know how to even choose one thing," the witch countered. "But I think…yes. I will take that."

"What?" Aeris asked. "What do you mean?"

"Your tears, Herald. I’ll take your tears."

Aeris paused, looking at her. "How…"

But then the witch’s hands found her face, and her world went dark.

Aeris awoke on the sand. She blinked in the sunlight. "Fezzik?" she asked.

There was no answer. She sat up. In her hand was the card the witch had given her, the Hanged Man. Her first impulse was to tear it into little pieces. But instead, she shoved it into her bag. She stood up. There was sand in her hair, and, grimacing, she shook it out. "Fezzik!" she called again. "Fezzik!!"

It was morning. It had to be…the sun was just up in the east, casting brilliant light over the cool beach. She shook her head. How long had she been unconscious? How had she gotten away from the witch? And for that matter, what had the witch taken for her payment…

She felt strange. As she took stock of her person and realized nothing obvious was missing, she also realized that something was horribly wrong.

"…tears…" she whispered.

She blinked her eyes. She tried to force some tears.

"Oh, no, please no…"

Real horror began to grip her, and she felt herself begin to cry…but her eyes remained dry. "Oh no!" she sobbed. "No…"

"Herald!" shouted a voice. It was high and whiny and inquisitive, and could belong to none other than Smee. "Herald, is that you?"

She was coughing, choking out sobs, and the more she wept, the more she felt like it, as no tears
would fall.

"Are you okay?"

She managed to glance up at Smee. There were several other pirates with him, no doubt a search party. He looked suddenly relieved.

"Oh, thought you were crying for a second there. Get some sand in your lungs?"

She moaned and fell to the ground, still sobbing helplessly. "Fezzik," she gasped at him. "Get Fezzik." She didn’t know how Fezzik would help her, but she needed time to get herself under control, and sending them on a brief trip for the giant was the first thing she could think of.

They found him, waiting patiently at the cave’s entrance and brought him to the girl. She was sitting on the sand, looking out on the water, her sobs stilled. Smee shrugged to his mates, and Fezzik rushed towards her.

"Aeris!"

She turned and stood, running into his arms. "Fezzik…oh, Fezzik…" She sighed softly. "Inigo’s alive," she told him. "He’s alive."

"Then we can go get him!"

"No, Fezzik, we can’t…unless you know how to get to Fantasia."

He was silent for a long moment. "Fantasia?"

She nodded solemnly. "You’ve never heard of it. I don’t even know if it exists. I heard stories when I was little, but…"

"Might I make a suggestion?" said Hook, strolling into their midst. "Stay here a few days. Rest. And then decide your next action."

Aeris glanced at him. She didn’t know why he seemed different, but he was. She didn’t know what he knew, that she shared something with him now, something horrible. The price of the Sea Witch’s knowledge.

It was finally set that she and Fezzik would spend a few days aboard the Jolly Roger. Hook sent word to Jareth and Sarah, via a fairy friend of Tinkerbell’s. And on the second day since Aeris had emerged from the caves so mysteriously, Oberon appeared on deck. Puck was with him. And he wanted to see the Herald.

"She’s sleeping," Hook said carefully. His voice was usually booming, but that past few days, he’d been walking on eggshells around the ship, and made sure all else did the same…out of his newfound and rather strange kinship with the Herald. "And I won’t be waking her."

"Very well." Oberon turned to Puck. "Get her here. Now."

In an instant, the Herald stood before them, wide-eyed with surprise. She was still in her nightgown. "Oberon?"

"I was told you wanted to speak to me."

"Yes…but…" She looked down at her state of undress self-consciously.

Oberon nodded, and she was suddenly dressed and set. "Better?" He didn’t wait for her reply. "This is serious business you’re in, according to my little informant here."

Puck grinned, but stayed silent.

"I have to find Inigo Montoya. I…I have to go somewhere."

"I heard. Fantasia."

"But it doesn’t exist," she said softly, her voice catching.

"I wouldn’t say that’s true," Oberon said, a slightly amused smile playing on his lips.

Her eyes lit up. "You know the way! Tell me!"

"But is this what you wanted me for?"

"No," she admitted. She glanced at Hook.

He frowned. "All right, I’m going." He stalked away, muttering about "his own ship."

She looked at Puck expectantly. He rolled his eyes. "As you wish, my Herald, dear." He glanced at Oberon. "But I’ll be back when you need me here."

The king nodded. Puck vanished. Aeris spoke again.

"Sarah’s remembering things, Oberon."

"I didn’t give you a lifetime guarantee on those peaches, did I?"

She stamped her foot. "Dammit! You said you’d help us!"

"I did."

"You didn’t say it was only temporary!"

"I didn’t say it was forever."

"She’s going to remember and then she’ll leave the Labyrinth! And it won’t just be Jareth this time, it’ll be EVERYONE! You and Stephan and Titania, and all the other friends she’s made. Everyone will get hurt!"

He gazed at her evenly. "Perhaps."

"But more than anything else, it means Sarah will be hurt again. Oh, Oberon, please, can’t you do something?"

"No," he said quietly. His face softened. "Aeris, you know Sarah wasn’t supposed to remember what happened. But the spell is not foolproof. She broke the same spell in a less potent version her first time through the Labyrinth. And now her mind is stronger than ever. In fact," Oberon mused, "the only reason the spell has lasted as long as it has might be simply her will not to know the truth."

The thought was so cynically sad, and Aeris sighed heavily. "What do we do?"

"You come back home."

"Why?" she demanded. "I’m so close to finding him!"

"Aeris, you’re worrying Sarah half to death. And frankly, it’s this little adventure you’re on that’s putting her closer to remembering."

"That’s impossible. I haven’t even been away three days."

"She knew it was coming. So turn back now, and come home, and don’t bring your whole world crashing down around your ears unnecessarily."

"I can’t! And even if I could, who’s to say she wouldn’t remember anyway?"

Oberon raised his eyebrows. "I can’t say for certain that she won’t regain her memories of what happened if you come home. But I can promise you that if you continue to put yourself in danger and Sarah in fear, she will regain them completely."

"How could I give up now?" she said softly. "I sold my tears for this, Oberon. I have to see it through. For Inigo."

"No, not for Inigo." Oberon shook his head at her. "No, not at all for Inigo. If I believed for an instant that he was your reason for this quest, I would urge you on and help you. But I don’t believe that at all."

Her eyes flashed at him, her quick temper catching. "What are you talking about? Why else would I put myself through this?"

"Oh, the suffering you’ve seen, fair Herald!" he cried, putting a hand to his head, mocking her. He dropped the posture. "Putting yourself through this. Bah. You’re seeking redemption, not Inigo Montoya."

The fire went out of her; she became a snuffed candle. She stood, gazing at Oberon, her face frozen in shock. He might have thrown cold water over her. Her blue eyes were wide and hurt, and her mouth hung open slightly. He went on.

"Stop this, Aeris. Go home. Be Sarah’s friend, try to keep her from remembering. Don’t stay out here, trying to prove you’re still worthy of it all. You can’t be absolved. Everyone has burdens to bear, your guilt will just have to be yours."

She was still silent.

"Aeris," he continued, "think. Don’t destroy everything just so that you can sleep better at night."

She blinked, and her eyes focused on him again; she seemed to have returned from some long reverie. "Oberon, how could you say…how dare you…" But her words lacked force.

"You know I speak the truth," he said.

"Maybe," she said slowly. "Maybe you do. I can’t deny that it weighs on me. Day and night, night and day, Sarah’s face, her eyes, staring at me through the rain…" She shook her head, trying to dispel the mental picture. "You don’t know what it’s like. Maybe if she and I hadn’t become friends. Maybe then it wouldn’t have bothered me at all. But we did, and it does, and it’s more than just wanting to sleep better, Oberon. I just want to belong to my world again."

"Aeris, you can’t not belong."

"But I don’t anymore! I live a lie! Am I Sarah’s best friend or her worst enemy? Do you know?" She laughed a little, a weary, ragged sound. "Some days I really don’t." She walked slowly over to the side of the deck, looking out on the new morning. "So I’m doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. All right. But there are some right reasons in there too. It’s not just for my peace of mind. I loved Inigo Montoya. He was going to come back to me. And someone is trying to make him break his promise." She ran one finger over the smooth wood side of the ship. "And Oberon, you know it’s not just me, it’s Fezzik, too. And he’s here for all the right reasons. Are you going to stop him because I’ve got an ulterior motive?"

When Oberon spoke again, his voice was soft and sad. "I don’t want to stop you."

"You don’t?" she asked, turning around.

"No. But I don’t know what else to do. Aeris, you push the limits of what can be done in your life. You’re operating under a curse. And while I know Fezzik has great reason to go on with you, I cannot condone you leading him into what may be great danger."

She looked away. "Then you are going to try to stop us."

"Yes."

She turned her eyes back to him in pleading. "Oberon, don’t do this."

"You leave me no choice."

"Fine!" she shouted, "That’s just fine! You want to let Inigo die, okay! But tell me, Oberon, how well will you be sleeping at night with his blood on your hands?"

The Fae King was silent, his eyes locked with hers. She waited.

"Puck!" he called finally. "Puck, where are you?"

The little Fae appeared beside Aeris. He was usually in mid-air when she saw him; he preferred to fly and be at the same stature with the people around him. But now he was standing on the boards of the ship, looking thoughtful and vaguely obstinate.

"Methinks his majesty rash in this instance. Perhaps my perspective may be of assistance."

"Puck, the decision is made," Oberon said flatly. "We are leaving."

He suddenly sprang to human size, and Aeris jumped a little in surprise. Oberon’s face registered slight disturbance, but no more than that. "I rarely offer help your majesty," Puck said, his voice deeper and darkly serious. "I would think you’d take advantage of me."

Oberon tilted his head, a slight smile on his lips. "Well, if you are so intent on it…"

He began to walk slowly around, wandering, circling Aeris and Oberon as he spoke, the rhymes falling light and measured. "I thank you for hearing what I must say. This is more than her quest—‘tis a power play. Forces greater than we vie for control. Let her cross the bridge," he said, his smooth, soft Fae hand brushing her face. He stood before her, beside Oberon, his head cocked to one side, his clear silver eyes gazing at her with great interest. His finger played down her cheek, a pretend tear. He smiled faintly. "She has paid the toll."

He sighed. "Puck, you want to let her go into Fantasia, bring Fezzik with her, topple her entire world, and quite possibly get herself and Fezzik killed in the process?"

Puck looked completely put out with the king, eyes blazing and jaw set, but he only nodded.

"And you think that because you offer your opinion so rarely that I ought to consent to something so foolish?"

"You try to thwart things you do not understand!" Puck answered angrily. "Any barrier to her might as well be made of sand. You are the way to Fantasia, don’t you see? Or is the king too great to listen to me?" The mocking tone of the last part obviously got under Oberon’s skin, and he was visibly closer to losing his temper completely. But Puck knew better than to push him too far. His next words were spoken more gently. "You deny her quest in vain. She will find her way…but without you it will take great pain."

"She’ll get there no matter what I do?" Oberon frowned, incredulous.

"Indeed, though the easy path lies in you."

"I can’t, Puck. She has to go home, she promised she would. If she breaks it, it will be all the worse."

Aeris rolled her eyes. "Oberon, I know I promised. But things have changed. Sarah will understand. Tell me only that it is impossible that I can save Inigo. I’ll stop here and now, I’ll come back and live with it all and never say what if. So tell me it’s impossible."

"Nothing is impossible," he admitted softly. "You know that."

"Then let me go. Let me go right now." She touched his shoulder. "Please."

Oberon folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head up. "Get Fezzik. Try to prepare him for what’s coming. Puck, you will be their escort to Fantasia."

Aeris threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly for a moment. He stood, still and unbending for one instant before slowly returning the embrace. "I wish you wouldn’t—"

"I have to," she answered. "Give everyone my love. I’ll come back when I have Inigo."

She let go of him and started down below decks to get Fezzik.

Oberon gave his servant a weary glance. "Puck, are you sure this is the right thing?"

The Fae only laughed in response.