Those Cruel Eyes Edition 1

Chapter 23

Emmeline landed hard on the cold, rocky floor underneath her, smacking her head in the process. Stars exploded behind her eyes, knocking the breath out of her.
"Ouch," Emmeline coughed, holding her head as she surveyed her surroundings. It was pitch black, and all she heard was the banging of her own heart. Out of nowhere, a scuffling sound came from a corner in the room.
"Hello?" Emmeline called hesitantly, "Aiden?"
Suddenly, a candle in the center of the room lit up, blinding Emmeline for a moment. When her eyes adjusted, she saw... nothing. She was alone in the little room. It was cold, dusty, and rocky. The air smelled musty, like a cellar. The room was cylinder-like in shape, with a low ceiling with a small, barred trapdoor in the center.
"Where am I?" Emmeline asked herself. "I was supposed to be home."
She heard footsteps. A small chunk of wall swung outwards, and Aiden walked in.
"Aiden!" Emmeline cried, running to him. She threw her arms around him. "Where am I? Why am I here? Why aren't I home? Why-," it dawned on her that Aiden wasn't embracing her, he just stood there stiffly.
She opened her eyes and backed away from him, letting go slowly. "You tricked me," she whispered, searching his eyes.
"You... tried to get me to ditch Jareth... why?" Emmeline beseeched.
Aiden was silent for a moment, then he said in a deep, gravelly voice that did not belong to him, "To make Jareth pay for what he did to me. To Sarah."
As Emmeline watched in horror, Aiden's Clark Kent-like appearance melted like candle wax, revealing a very dumpy, very revolting Goblin King.
"H-Hoggle?" Emmeline asked disbelievingly. "What-,"
"You are in the Oubliette, Emmeline," Hoggle growled, limping over to the candle.
"But why?"
Hoggle rounded on her. "Why? Why? Why? Why? Do you know how to say anything else? Because I felt like it. Does that quench your thirst for knowledge, you unpleasant child? Maybe I did it because I wanted to. Maybe I don't have a reason. Ever thought of that?" Hoggle took a deep breath and stepped away from Emmeline. He smiled in a way he obviously thought was comforting, but instead it felt to Emmeline like the wolf looking at Red Riding Hood.
She sat down and scooted away from Hoggle as far as possible, until her back was smushed against the cold wall. Hoggle leered at her, and then steadily stepped closer to her, relishing his moment of power.
"Listen, darling little Emmeline, I'm the one in charge here. You will be seen and not heard. You will stay down here forever until the day you die. Sarah will be told a tragic tale about how her lover killed his own bastard daughter, and Sarah will hate Jareth forever, and I will murder him before all of the Fae and take control of The Underground with Sarah at my side."
"You and my mother..?" Emmeline started to laugh hysterically, part from panic, part from amusement.
"You ill-bred imbecile!" Hoggle screeched, slapping her across the face and ripping a long cut in her cheek from his nails. He then gripped her jaw and turned her face to his.
"There is no way you can escape," Hoggle said to her as if reading her thoughts. His black eyes bored into Emmeline's, giving her the unpleasant feeling that he was staring into her soul. She tore her chin from him and looked at the floor, nodding as if defeated.
Hoggle backed up from Emmeline triumphantly, believing her crushed beneath his will. He turned on his heel and vanished as the candle light was quenched, leaving Emmeline in the astringent darkness.