The Labyrinth on Bourbon Street 2

On Windows of Opportunity

Sebastian's watch chirped to mark the hour. He switched his wrist to gaze on the light of the cracked timepiece. Allie looked over too, and a second later, her face lit up.

"Seb..." She pushed his shoulder lightly. Sebastian had since shifted and was leaning on Allie's chest, who was leaning against the wall. "Guess what day it is?"

"Saturday?" Sebastian mumbled.

"And what's your favorite song to sing at this time on a Saturday?" Allie asked, her smile widening as her voice rose. 

"Allie, I'm really in no condition for Billy Joel..." Sebastian whined. Allie threw him off of her chest. 

"We can't just sit here and mope, we'll go mad!" Allie exclaimed. 

"Well we also can't call too much attention to ourselves." Sebastian scolded. "I don't need you to be a target, too."

"If he was going to come back for you, he would have already." Allie claimed. Usually this was a very flimsy argument, but it typically only applied to a teacher collecting up math homework a day late or something equally mundane. But for some reason, it seemed to ring a little more true in this context.

"He did say he didn't want to waste any more breath on me." Sebastian remembered, shuddering as it was painful to remember what he did. "He said he got what he was looking for."

"Well, if he's not coming back..." Allie sat up and put her weight on the palms of her hands. "We can signal for help!"

Allie weighed her options, and this one seemed the most fitting. Sebastian couldn't walk, as Jareth had done something to his legs that made it painful to even stand up. The ideal situation would be to wake up in bed together at a five star hotel back in New Orleans, the whole adventure having been a dream. But the realistic (a term used very loosely in this context, none of this could have been considered 'realistic') situation was to find help and get Sebastian to walk again. And the latter seemed to be a bit of a stretch. Allie could only try to lift his spirits as a start.

Allie started to hum out the harmonica tune for Piano Man, one of Sebastian's favorite songs to sing for his adoring fans. Sebastian opened his eyes and his pupils met Allie's. He forced a smile, showing his appreciation for her efforts.

"Come on, bro." Allie stopped dead in the middle of the song. "won't you humor a poor, lonely black girl?"

"No." Sebastian answered, but his voice expressed more tease than malice. 

"Are you a racist? Is that it?" Allie teased right back. "If you don't sing with me, you're a racist."

"That makes so much sense." Sebastian chuckled. 

"Sing." Allie demanded, her face falling. 

It was a full minute of silence before Sebastian uttered again.

"What was that?" Allie raised her eyebrows and held her hand to her ear.

"It's nine o'clock on a Saturday. I'm injured and bound to the floor. My best friend is a queen and nowhere to be seen and nothing makes sense anymore." 

Allie crossed her arms and leaned on the brick wall next to him. "Prick." she said out loud, but was ecstatic to see him smiling and joking again. 

She tried a second time, humming out the harmony. 

"You don't quit, do you?" Sebastian opened his eyes again, looking to be a little more agreeable this time.

"Nope." Allie conceded.

Sebastian finally folded. Allie started humming the opening all over again and, right on cue, Sebastian started to sing. It was like he finally uncovered that part of himself that was pre-programmed to sing on demand.