Those Cruel Eyes Edition 1

Chapter 22

The pair were walking through another half of the desert, Jareth trying to pull Emmeline into conversation, but she stayed in a stony silence. Every once and a while, she would stick her hand into her pocket and feel the carved Celtic ring on the warm rock.
"Is something wrong? You're acting oddly." Jareth spoke after a while. He looked sideways to her and she was staring off into space.
"No I'm not." Emmeline said defensively, trying to avoid conversation.
"Yes, you are," Jareth contradicted. "What is it?"
Emmeline couldn't take it anymore. "Because," she yelled out of nowhere, halting her steps, "You're a traitor!"
Jareth was shocked. He took a step back from Emmeline as if she was about to explode. "What are you talking about, Emmeline?"
"You know!" she fumed, "You left me!" she pointed an accusing finger at him.
"No, you left me. I told you to go-,"
"Not at the stream in the jungle, in New York City, years ago!" Emmeline interrupted angrily.
"What?"
"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know, Jareth! You left me to become King! Why? And what happened to my real mother? Did you abandon her too?" Tears gushed down her cheeks.
Jareth's eyes went wide. He stalked forward and grabbed her arms. "Who told you this?" he asked urgently.
"None of your business!" Emmeline yelled, gaining her momentum and ripping herself from his grasp. "I confided with you, I made you my friend, I told you that all I wanted was a father! I finally realize that such a wonderful man is my dad, but one small problem: he left me to die! Did you kill your son as well? And your wife?" she started hiccupping hysterically.
"Did Hoggle tell you this?" His face was completely bloodless and his eyes flashed with rage, trying to pretend that her last three words didn't kill him.
"Yes!" she stood proudly, throwing her hair back. "And I've decided..." she pulled the black rock out of her pocket, lifted it to the sky and screamed into the wind, "Jareth is a traitor! I accept Hoggle as my ruler and friend! Aiden, take me home!"
"No! Emmeline!" Jareth reached for her.
Emmeline laughed maniacally as sand formed a vortex around her form, making her hair fly all around her face.
"Emmeline!" Jareth cried, reaching for her. "It's a lie! Hoggle tricked you!"
Emmeline's eyes met Jareth's fleetingly, and then she was gone. The sand rested at Jareth's feet.
Jareth buried his face in his hands and sank to his knees in defeat.
"Hoggle!" Jareth screamed to the sky. Swiftly, the wind picked up ferociously, knocking Jareth on his back. The vortex that took Emmeline from him swirled down to reveal the short form of the Goblin King himself.
"Having fun, are we? How's your daughter?" Hoggle laughed maliciously.
"She's not my daughter!" Jareth snarled, then reached out an arm to strangle the creature that created this mayhem, who tortured Jareth over and over, who was responsible for brutally ripping Jareth to pieces. Jareth wanted revenge, to kill Hoggle for messing with Emmeline's head to make her believe that Jareth abandoned her for the sake of his own selfish needs, for turning his one true love against him, for killing his wife and imprisoning his son.
With a wordless bellow, Jareth charged.
"No, no Jareth. Manners," Hoggle laughed, sending a strong gale of wind at Jareth, knocking him down again.
"Hold him," Hoggle told the wind. He then leaned up close to Jareth's face as he struggled.
"Listen, worm," Hoggle growled. "You are all alone. Sarah, Emmeline, and the goblins are all on my side. Who have you got? No one. You lost your wife, your son, and now your daughter, and yes, she IS your child. Remember that week when you were unfaithful to Isadora and slept with Sarah? Yes, well, Emmeline is the product of that. She's nothing but the bastard child of a half-breed, dead-beat father.
"Any last words before you get picked off by your next challenge?"
Jareth spat in Hoggle's face. "Alright then," Hoggle snarled. "Die in the desert!" Without another word, Hoggle melted into the wind. The pressure on Jareth vanished. He got up shakily, and then screamed wordlessly into the wind, blaming himself for Emmeline's distrust and betrayal.