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In the Shadow of the Ocean (CasualVelociraptor x PhoenixRising82)

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Standing on the flying death trap, he felt anything but suave. Actually he get a little like hurling, if he was being honest.

He knew she enjoyed them though. He just hoped his disdain for them and the lurching of his stomach currently didn’t ruin it.

He smirked lightly at her comment, a brow raising softly before his eyes roamed over her frame and the dress she donned.

Leaning as casually as possible on his cane, the motion of the act caused him a brief pause before he answered her.

”No. No. This is all for some woman I have yet to meet but ya know, she might just be the girl of my dreams, so I’ve got to impress. Think she’ll like it?”

He replied cheekily, his lips curling at the corners. Gently he untangled the necklace from the flowers before handing the bouquet to her. A finger twirling lightly, indicating an unspoken desire for her to turn around. When she had, he let his cane rest against his leg as he draped the necklace over her head and worked the clasp together. His fingers brushing warmly against the back of her neck before he carefully pulled her hair from beneath the chain.

As he did, he leaned gently in and whispered in her ear.

”You’ll see.”

With a gentle press of his hand against her lower back, he guided her to a seat. A single tap of his cane against the floor before he sat himself beside her signaled the pilot to get moving.
 
"I like it," Alice grinned and pushed her hair back after the necklace was put on, the touch on her lower back welcomed by a shiver from her. "It reminds me of the way the ocean glows sometimes when bioluminescent plankton are eating algae off the top of the waves. I used to watch them with my father on his boat all the time."

"So, there's a potential girl of your dreams, eh? A future Mrs. Jareth Williams?" Alice then wondered as the air screw took off. "Tell me, Mr. Williams...what's she like?"

She still didn't know where they were headed, which added to the excitement of it all...and made her impatient to uncover the mystery. An instinct that had been a part of her for her whole life, and would not be denied.
 
He settled beside her, straightening his jacket nervously as the air screw ascended. His hands dropping to the arms of his chair. A nervous lick of his lips before he turned his attention toward Alice and the beautifully glowing orb resting against her chest.

”It comes from the Palace gardens in Olseka.”

His gaze shifted to her features, dark eyes dancing over each line and curve of her face. Settling on her eyes and holding them in his gaze.

”Possessed and worn only by Royalty.”

None of it a lie to make himself seem grander than he was. She already knew of his lineage. He hoped the implication was clear. He being the Prince, she agreed to be his Princess.

His head tipped just slightly, a smile crawling across his lips.

”Potentially. We’ll see, I mean, if she thinks I’m worthy enough, anything could happen.”

He let his head rest back against the seat. A content smile on his lips, even as his fingers clutched a little tighter against the arms of the chair.

”She’s smart and incredibly witty. A mystery. She challenges me. She sees me.”

His lips pursed, forming a small “o” as a whew breathed from his lips.

”She’s beautiful and.....mind-blowingly sexy, all rolled into one.”

He would answer any other questions she had and he asked some of his own. Similar to her own in fact. Was there a man of her dreams and what he was like. If she could see herself being with him for the rest of their lives, maybe even raising babies one day.

The flight wasn’t overly long but certainly too long for him. As hard as he fought it and tried to distract himself from it, he grew pale and more nervous it seemed, though he said nothing. Merely tried to keep the fears at bay, for the most part successfully....he hoped.

The air screw set down on the roof and he looked all too relieved to disembark. Holding his arm out for Alice to take, he glanced down at her and smiled.

”I love you but we are taking a damned carriage back home.”

He said with a quiet chuckle as a host greeted them. They were led to a door and a set of stairs descending into the balconied seating of the illustrious Bamba Lounge. It was much easier for him to travel down stairs than it was up.

He’d requested no one else be seated in the balconies with them. He wanted her to feel like the royalty he’d spoken of.

He led her to a table that was front and center. Not only could they look out over the diners below but they could see her, as if she were a Queen watching over her court.
 
“I feel very honored,” Alice purred as she processed his implied compliment about the necklace belonging to royalty. She also enjoyed the feeling of exclusively having a high place to look down upon everybody else from (but also felt badly for those whom the downwash from the air screw’s landing affected, especially their place settings).

But what Alice tumbled over in her mind (and enjoyed the most out of what he said as a result) was a pulsing warmth emanating from her core as he remembered the cheesy but romantic lines he’d pulled on her when they first made love. The ease with which Jareth explained that he loved her made her queasy in a good way, when yesterday her nausea was all from pain. Jareth had this uncanny ability of putting her at ease in the moment that sometimes made her feel off balance later, but here was welcomed as she put her troubled mind behind.

But not entirely. Lowering your guard got you killed, after all, and she wasn’t in the dying business. So she’d brought an electrified knife (in her left legging), her gauntlet (concealed in her left sleeve), and her revolver (in the cleavage of her bra- as there weren’t many places left).

Just in case of...any one of thousands of scenarios she could think of.

She’d taken the time to compose her reply in her head and still had trouble getting it out. That was one scenario she still hadn’t prepared for as much as she would have liked.

“Well, Mr. Williams. You should know...on this date that we’re having...” She then giggled. “That there might also be a Mr. Alice Guthrie out there. His name is Adamaris, and he is intelligent. He is kind, although he doesn’t often show more than charm to others. He annoyingly remembers all these cute little things about me, and also knows me better than I know myself sometimes. He’s shown me so much patience. When he holds me...I...feel like I’m finally free of so much crap.”

She’d tried so much to keep up the facade that she was dating a stranger today. They both had, but their little jokes and playful flirting broke through and reminded her he wasn’t a stranger after all. That meant they could never go back to the way things were before they were dating, which was both exciting and nerve wracking.

Alice sighed and wiped her eyes. “Sorry...you know I’m not as eloquent about sentimental shit as you,” Alice then continued once she’d calmed down. “You made a big mistake, but I’ve had a day to think about it and...that can’t be it. Not after how much fun I’ve been having before we’ve even skipped to dessert.”

This made her grin, “What most convinced me was how willing you were to try something new to make me happy. But don’t worry, we are definitely taking a carriage home...perhaps one of those fancy autocarriages? Anyway, point is, I love you and don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. Perhaps, as well, my...my boyfriend can take me home?”
 
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”Hmm...”

His brow rose softly as she spoke, though a faint smirk rested at the corner of his lips. Even at the mention of his name in public. There was no one else nearby, so he wasn’t all that worried about it and didn’t correct her. Instead, he listened, leaning his elbows against the table, folding his hands in front of him, tapping his straightened pointer fingers against his lips as he watched her.

”I may have to have a man to man chat with this fellow....let him know I intend to win your affections. Fight to the death if absolutely necessary.”

He teased. His expression softened when he noted the glossy gaze staring back at him, the gentle sweep of her fingers beneath her eyes.

He stood, using the table to steady himself the few steps before he reached her. His hand swept across her cheek, thumb brushing the corner of her eye as he leaned forward. His lips pressing softly against her temple and another at the corner of her lips before he knelt before her. His hand sliding along her arm before gathering her hand in both of his, holding it in her lap as his thumb stroked lovingly against her knuckles.

”I was an idiot. What I did was stupid and in no way conducive to getting what I really wanted. Not even close to what I really wanted.”

Lifting her hand, his lips brushed her knuckles warmly, lingering just a moment before he let their hands settle back into her lap. No apology would erase what he had done or what he’d been about to do but he could and had admitted how wrong and how stupid it had been.

His gaze dropped to her lap and a soft chuckle escaped him.

”An autocarriage it shall be. As long as you admit that you rather enjoyed watching me try not to hurl all over your beautiful dress?”

He laughed, his gaze turning to peer up at her, the glittering gold shower of lights around them shining in his usually dark and haunted gaze.

”I would be honored and ecstatic to take you home, love.”

He nodded.
 
“Well, you’re not being an idiot now. Or on purpose. That’s what counts, isn’t it? After all, you risked a lot- including the contents of your gastrointestinal system and, as you mentioned, one of my finest dresses- by going up in a flying machine with me,” Alice said. “Tell Adamaris he can send me his charms another time. I’ve already decided the winner of your little...cockfight.”

Then, after Alice winked, looked at the menu and started to decide on what she wanted, she swallowed at his last statement and replied:

“Wait...home? Jareth, do you mean...do you...want me to move in with you?” Alice wondered.

The detective was quick to half-lie, half-clarify that she wanted to be sure she heard what he said correctly. After all, she didn’t want to freak out if it turned out that his offer to have her take up residence with him, John, and their Xen robot children, was nonexistent.

This was actually the part of their day that made her the most nervous. The last time she'd committed this hard to someone was Elizabeth Jersey, since Elizabeth had rescued her from freezing on the streets to show her what real sapphic lust could feel like, and took her in when she had no one else shortly after her return from the Army and had started up their dormant relationship again...only to reveal the terrible truth.

She’d been on her own for most of the past seven years after that and as much as she cared about Jareth, she wasn’t sure she could give that up quite just yet. Sure, sure, she’d thought about marrying the son of the mer king and spawning little mermanlets (she needed to look up the name for juvenile merfolk later...) but that was in the land of the hypothetical and romantic. Actually considering the first step potentially moving towards all that was making her gastrointestinal tract tie itself up in knots from stress.
 
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His head canted, brow lifting before a chuckle rolled from his chest.

”Oh? I’ve heard...tail of this Adamaris. Seems he would win hands down in a cockfight with me, I mean....if the stories are true and all.”

His chuckle turned into a quiet laugh as he stood, cupping her cheeks in his hands, he leaned and placed a warm, lingering kiss on her forehead and another on her nose before a loving one fell upon her lips for a moment before he retired back to his seat.

His own menu open and in hand, he peered quietly across the table at her a moment before he answered.

”You‘ve been there already for nearly four months. Palaidia Hall will...feel a little empty once you’re gone but yes, I’d like you to stay. But only if you wish to.”

He spoke softly, his eyes dropping back to the menu. Allowing her the time to consider the proposition. It was entirely up to her and he would respect her decision should she wish not to jump in quite that soon in the way of living arrangements. They would discuss it further once she had decided.
 
Just to make sure that she understood, Alice processed Jareth’s formalizing of his request for her to stay at Palaidia Hall while pretending to read the menu, when in fact, she’d lost her appetite. Not because of the logistics; she knew that his men were more than capable of moving her, even if they had to airlift her entire building to the grounds of Palaidia Hall.

It wa even just the anxiety that had previously crossed her mind about no longer having the independence of her own place. But what really gave her shot nerves was that this made her remember there was one more concealed thing in her dress that she had to give him...something that would explain everything. The case. Her past. Why she was hesitant to leave South Bend behind. Everything.

“I’m not going to lie Jareth...that’s a pretty big step when we just reconciled,” Alice said. Perhaps he would accept that and they could move on.

But she lowered the menu and knew she had to say more. “You’re being more honest. So I should. I-“

Before she could finish her sentence, there was a creaking of metal nearby as what remained of a man lifted the air screw they rode in on like an empty box, roared, “You’re in for it!” and threw it across the roof at them just after the pilot dived out for safety.

“-need you to duck!” Alice cried, then dived across the table to tackle Jareth to the floor as the flying machine sailed over there.

Then she snarled, “Leave me alone for one fucking day, you bloody nonces!” and threw her knife into the assailant’s eye before quickly fanning her revolver’s hammer to let out all six shots into his body.

“Mother said you will join the Family...” the man growled, then charged at them on all fours like a bull as Alice began reloading.
 
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He started to nod, he would have taken her response as it was. And she wasn’t entirely wrong either, even though deep in his gut he felt it had been right.

His own menu was laid on the table as she continued. His attention falling solely on Alice as she continued. His brow lifting as her attention was drawn toward the squeal of metal. His was not far behind and he was coming up out of his seat, reaching to grab her, just as Alice threw herself at him. His arms circling around her as they landed. His breath momentarily knocked out of him as his back slammed against the floor and Alice atop of him.

Screams from below mingled with her shouted words, and growls of the beast that was baring down on them, all coalescing into a cacophony that momentarily threw him off. Until he felt the jerk of her body as she fired at the thing.

His arms clutched around her waist and in one swift motion he rolled, further away from the loping assailant, pinning her beneath him as he retrieved the cane that had been knocked nearly off the balcony when she’d tackled him backwards.

While it has been some time since he’d actually been in a fight or flight situation, his fight instincts kicked in. His thumb flicking against one of the silver krakens tentacles, popping the mechanism that held the sheath over the hidden weapon within. The sheath clattered to the ground as he rolled back onto his back, stabbing the sword upward. Through the things jaw and skull.
 
Alice didn’t know whether it was Jareth’s instinct to be pinning her, the intensity of the situation they had just survived, the adrenaline in her system, or how well he comported himself as he stabbed the Knuckler in the head, but she got a little horny from all of it. But she had to keep herself, so a chaste kiss on the cheek sufficed as she helped Jareth pull the sword out of the man’s thick skull.

She then picked up a jury-rigged weapon made out of an automatic rail spike presser and said, “If this guy hadn’t tried to kill us just now, I would have shaken his hand and congratulated his ingenuity.”

Alice only got a moment more to admire his handiwork and figure out how to balance it in her hand when she noticed the bubbling sound coming from his gut.

“Get back NOW!” Alice cried, running away from the body just as bile burst forth and carved a hole in his stomach and chest cavity.

“I imagine you have a ton of questions, but we have about thirty seconds before a horde of philter crazed maniacs descends on us,” Alice added before shooting out a grappling line with her gauntlet that connected to the roof of the abutted enclosure for the staircase to the upstairs dining area, then climbing it and making sure it was taut enough for him to climb up too. “Once you’re up here, make sure to cover my behind. Maybe this’ll help too.” With that she also threw her revolver and some ammunition. She also just heard the unintentional pun and braced for him to exploit it.
 
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His cheek puffed as the corner of his lips jerked into a half smile at the kiss to his cheek. Not that he hadn’t thought that Alice couldn’t handle herself but what kind of man would he be if he hadn’t made the effort to protect his woman?

Standing, he swiped the blade of the sword against the tattered shoulder of the cretins shirt.

”Mm, good thing he tried to kill us first.”

All he could imagine was the thing trying to lull either one of them into complacency first and then going in for the kill. Of course, that’s likely the way he, himself, would have gone about it, he contemplated idly as he bent to pick up the sheath, sliding the pieces back together until he heard the soft tick of it connecting.

Straightening, he stepped up beside her, eyeing the weapon himself briefly. Leaning on his cane, his free hand sliding against her lower back.

He didn’t need to be told twice, he wasn’t far behind her, even with his limp once he heard the gurgling sound, he instinctively knew it couldn’t be good.

”Ok, I’ve seen some gross shit in my time but that.....that is just....nasty.”

His nose wrinkled as he looked back at the oozing, acidic mess of contents seeping from the exploded cavity. He turned his attention back to Alice, a perplexed raise of his brow. He hadn’t had any questions really until that moment. He knew well enough there were some people that hated him and what he did. And there were just crazy people in the world. So he really hadn’t thought about it until she’d brought it up. And for now he really only had one question. What the hell did she mean? Not that he would have time to ask that very question, as he watched her climbing the grapple line, his attention drawn upward as she called back down to him.

He caught the revolver with ease, pocketing it and the ammo. The cane was a little trickier scenario but it slid well enough beneath his belt to free up his hands completely. It was a good thing he had the upper body strength, a fair amount at that, to balance out his lack of strength in his legs.

”I have a much bigger ‘weapon’ to cover your ass with, Alli Cat....”

He smirked as he pulled himself up and finally beside her.

”Later though....this’ll do for now. Different tools for different jobs.”

He quipped and patted her ass lightly with a grin.
 
Alice groaned the minute that he said that pun, then rolled her eyes. True, she had walked right into it, so she might have been more embarrassed if he hadn’t taken advantage of the opportunity presented to him. Still, she gave a teasing smile that said she was not serious and quipped, “Remind me why I decided to date you again.”

But before he could give any kind of answer to that, Alice grimly said, “They’re here.”

With that, she spread her legs for balance, hefted the weapon in both her arms, and calmly took aim at the wailing hordes as they spit acid, leapt remarkable distances, and hurled fireballs, among other astounding feats. And yet, even when faced with the relentless onslaught of hundreds, Alice’s time in the military had trained the fear out of her.

The deep “pa-chunk” of the spike launcher was all the warning most of her enemies got before they were impaled by high speed railroad spikes. Sometimes the impacts sent them flying into nearby buildings and other times perforated their weakened skin so hard their entire body disintegrated into a fine mist. Anyone who got too close was cruelly dealt with by various new prototype gadgets attached to her gauntlet such as a wristbow, mini shotgun, motion lighted flamethrower, or even a newer, higher tension grappling wire connected to her hook, which she could wrap around an enemy and then strangle them with before hurling him or her into their fellows, or drawing them in for the kill.

Soon enough, however, Alice and Jareth started to run low on ammo and realized that there were enough Family cultists climbing up the building that the whole structure threatened to crumble from their weight. At least they could hear Goliath making the ground shake in the distance, blanketing the area with enormous firepower, and inexorably marching to relieve the overwhelmed RCPD with both Army soldiers and highly mobile and heavily armed special RCPD strider units stuffed in its hold. But fearsome though they were, were not fast enough to relieve the two of them in turn.

So Alice threw her improvised gun at the head of a thug, offered her now free right hand and asked Jareth, “Do you trust me?” as she retracted her grappling line and looked for a suitably high up anchor point.
 
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”Well......”

His answer cut short as his eyes found the crouched and loping figures coming their way. He steadied himself as best he could, back to Alice, weapons at the ready.

He noted they were coming for her, not so much him. He was in the way but they were hell bent on trying to get around him, the ones coming from behind her. He was just as hellbent at not letting them.

Slicing through most of them like butter. While exploding the heads of others with the pistol. It came as easily to him as breathing, despite his unsteady gait and the vague similarities that popped into his head of some of his nightmares, he managed well enough to push it all aside and cover her ass as he’d promised.

Looking over his shoulder at her offered hand, he nodded, pivoting on his good foot, his momentum afforded him a good deal of strength as he rammed the barrel end of the now empty and otherwise useless pistol into the cranium of an enemy as it attacked from behind Alice.

”Yeah but we should probably go, now.“

As he watched through a distant window, the undulating mass of darkness as the horde crawled the sides of the building.
 
Alice's mind, racing as always, was far ahead of Jareth's statement urging her to leave, and she wrapped her right arm under his arms and then wrapped his arms around her waist to make sure he was well supported. Then her grappling hook was fired upwards to the balcony of one of the Churches of Solstice, which despite the blades that looked like they could cut through the air like an air screw sadly could not fly away, when the two of them desperately needed it.

"I'm not normally one for religion," Alice panted after she set Jareth down, "but this is one time I'm grateful the church exists."

"The problem is that they might also think the same thing," she added as hundreds, if not thousands of the creatures they'd been fighting climbed over each other just to get to Alice. And all their weapons were dry.

Then dozens of goliaths stomped forward as General Oliver Hammond, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army, announced:

"Attention all loyal citizens of Radiant City. Due to the severity of the emergency caused by this recent plague, South Bend District is under martial law and will be sterilized by order of Her Highness Empress Emily Caldwell and her Imperial Senate. Entry into or out of the District will be denied with lethal force if necessary. All emergency services have been suspended until further notice. If you have not evacuated already along designated routes, then it is too late. Hide as far underground as you can, stay away from any windows, stay alert for further announcements, and may Father Vitalis have mercy on us all."

A ring of goliaths soon formed around the perimeter of the city, dropping dozens of fulgamuri at key roadways that fried any members of the Family that got too close to them. Then reflective dishes on top of the goliaths called Sun Cannons focused the rays of the twin suns down into them, back above, and then down again as vertical beams of death that slowly pulverized the masses of infected, and nearly any building in their path as well.

"If...if this is my last moment on this fucked up planet, I'm glad that at least it's with you," Alice said, closed her eyes, and kissed Jareth. They only had a single, precious moment together before a column of fire fried the infected crawling up the church and sent them both flying, thankfully away from the towering inferno. Still, Alice was sure as she passed out during the fall that unending darkness was all that awaited her.

Instead, some time later, they woke up in a dark, dingy workers' quarters that smelled of rotting whale flesh and dried blood of some other kind. Alice took a few moments to rub her face to clear her vision so they could locate where they were, she instead found that she was rubbing the dirty porthole of the helmet of her old golem uniform from her Army days. Then she saw Jareth was asleep and tried to yell at him to wake up so they could get out of here, only to make the inhuman screeching that her officers, and those of thousands of soldiers chosen to be golems at the end of the Surabamba Rebellion, had conditioned her voice box to make with a temporary numbing agent orally applied to her throat.

Alice knew exactly what was going on, and who was behind all this, and walked towards her beloved to try and wake him up to it too, before any more of their assailants could finish the job. She withdrew her arm just as quickly as she realized that she'd almost poked him with an extractor needle attached to her arm identical to the weapon that murdered Amara. Then hesitated again, as she wondered what he would think of the revelation that she was one of the elite soldiers tasked with eliminating underwater combatants- including merfolk- what felt like a thousand long and painful years ago.

Whenever Jareth did wake up, he would find the door quite locked from the outside, Alice curled up in despair behind her blue colored porthole, and the same two weapons from his dream. And then he would hear a mysterious female voice in his head crying maniacally:

"How deliciously ironic. The detective who commands words to form answers can no longer speak, and can no longer run from the blood on her hands. And the tycoon who built his empire off whale blood is now taking up residence in the same quarters on the Intrepid that the workers he barely paid gave their own lives to. You're. Both. MINE! And I will enjoy making you both my dolls."
 
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He woke some time later, a groan heavy in his throat. A hand lifting to the back of his head as his eyes squinted against the general ache of his entire body.

Alice’s words lingered in his mind, the feel of her lips ghosting against his own and he bolted upright.

”Alice.....”

Her name the only thing on his lips. Had she survived the blast? His eyes shot open, vision blurred at first but as the quarters came into view, so did the smell. He gagged softly, his hand dropping to cover his nose and mouth for a second until he could get his bearings. Not that it was easier to handle but the urge to retch lessened after a few minutes.

The blast did his legs no favors, everything hurt but his legs were the worst and he couldn’t find his cane, likely lost to the rubble the building they’d been on surely was. Using whatever was in his path to hang on to, he made his way to the door, only to find it was a fruitless attempt. Even as he tried beating on the door, trying to loosen the locks grip.

The voice snapped him out of the momentary bout of rage he was inflicting on the door, his gaze shooting up and around the dark and dingy room in search of it. His eyes narrowed, as if trying to place it, though that was as useless as beating on the door had been. He didn’t recognize the voice.

He did however recognize the descriptions the voice rattled off and his gaze dropped, searching the room at large until it fell on Alice, or the only other figure in the room, which he could only assume was her. His stomach lurched, recognizing not only the golem suit but the weapons nearby as well, not just from his nightmares but from his living ones as well, when he’d commanded his army....when he’d watched so many of his people parish. And the extractor needle.

Clutching the edge of a work table, he sighed, leaning heavily against it. His free hand sweeping across his face as he tried to process.....well....everything at the moment. Trying to make sense of it all.

No matter the conclusion he’d come to, sooner or later, right now, they needed to figure out how the hell to get out of here. None of it boded well, but it was worse being locked in this little room.

Kicking the weapons instinctively out of reach for now, he knelt next to Alice. Gentle hands gripped her arms as he leaned in close.

”Alice.....hey.....”

His grip on her arms loosened, hoping she wouldn’t react with a jerk and stab him. His hands rose to the helmet, aiming to remove it if he could. All the while speaking as calmly as he could.

”Alice. We’ve got to figure out how to get out of here. Come on....hey. Alli-cat.....come on.”
 
He didn't know it, nor could he have known, but Jareth's grip on her arms triggered a memory of her rape by a passing man on the street when she was 16, and made Alice struggle and think Please stop I promise I'll be a good girl just please stop as she was dragged back into the nightmare of that day. That was until he called her Alli-cat again, making her conscious mind realize that she was dangerously close to stabbing Jareth in the same way she had her attacker. And then Jareth's hand on her face, attempting to pry her helmet loose, made her worry about what he'd think of her once he'd be unable to even partially separate his view of her from the sight of her in her suit. What's more, her weary heart was reminded of similar intimate gestures they'd shared during and apart from making love; this only made her fall deeper into despair, for how could he possibly want the hideous monster she'd worked hard to bury for the past seven years?

Her lungs burned with all that she needed to say, all that she needed to explain, all that she would beg for him to absolve her of. But with her throat numbed, all Alice could manage was soft and whale-like groans. Once the truth that she was stuck in a suit that would mangle her words sank in (for the method of disentangling the operator from the golem suit was incredibly complex), Alice switched to nonverbal cues to display that she was still herself even in her military-grade prison. These included touching her helmet to his face, making a soft, low groan, hugging herself tightly to him, and placing her hand directly over the one that was on his face. With that, her porthole's color changed to pink, indicating her adoration.

Then it shifted to a calm, light blue as Alice carefully raised herself up by gripping the work table with her aching arms and put one foot in front of the other. That was something that was made more of a struggle with the added weight of her gear (especially her gauntlet, which had been carefully placed on the outside of her left hand by whoever had kidnapped them both, and her oxygen tank) and the bumps and bruises the explosion had left on her body. But underneath the outer layer of tightly woven synthetic fibers was a powerful yet light exoskeleton that enabled her to lift what she decided were the twin solutions to their current predicament- the weapons that Jareth had kicked.

After a little squeak and a gesture telling him to stand back, Alice fired two white hot industrial grade nails from her rivet gun, then fired a spear. The recoil nearly sent her flying backwards, but she managed to remain upright and the spear drove the rivets through the lock until it exploded. Then she tried to open the gate, but the hinges were rusted shut, making Alice growl like a snarling animal until she lifted the door off the hinges and threw it across the yawning darkness. With that, she gestured for Jareth to follow her.
 
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His fingers twitched softly beneath her hand as it fell over top of his. A smile slowly curled his lips as he watched the hue change color. While not entirely aware of what it all really meant, he got the gist of it and that was all that mattered at that moment, especially coupled with her hugging close to him.

When she started to stand, he took a small step back and gently held onto her as he rose from his squat in front of her. Stepping to the side as she went for the two larger weapons. Then a little further back when she motioned to do so. A hand swiping across his lips as he watched, brow furrowing as he quietly and in that moment felt a little inadequate in the savior department. Wasn’t that what he was supposed to do? And usually that’s where his mind would be, on ways to get himself out of a predicament. Keyword....himself. And right now, he wasn’t thinking of himself, not entirely, not specifically.

As she gestured for him to follow, he gently grabbed her arm to stop her forward motion, as he caught up to her. Carefully and quietly taking one of the weapons from her before he’d step around her, holding it at the ready. He peered at the blue glow of the face plate.

Surely, whoever held them captive had heard the commotion they’d just made breaking lose of the room they’d been locked in. Rather that she had made busting them free. He was not going to let her go first and possibly, directly into the clutches of whoever their captor was.
 
There was that arm grab again. Alice knew that Jareth meant well, but she would have to talk about it with him when she could...well, talk. She was also about to screech out an objection to him moving ahead of her and taking her spear gun (leaving her with just her rivet gun) when he stared into her eyes, and she was reassured, keeping her light calm for him as a result. She would never stop wanting to protect him, but she liked knowing he would be there for her too, and her stride became a bit more confident.

Then Alice let out a cry after all- this time for help as a hidden, grinding gear caused a trap door to give way beneath her, and she dropped down ten feet onto a hard metal floor. Her Golem armor absorbed most of the impact, only leaving her with minor scrapes and bruises, but the floor closed up again before she could stand up again and call out to Jareth for help.

Light blinded the room to reveal Alice's disappearance to Jareth, and the fact that he was standing in one of the whale processing rooms. A horrific smelling moat of blood, excretory matter, and offal divided him from the other side of the room, and it was writhing with scavenger eels that were eagerly gobbling up the excess- a ruthless but efficient cost-saving measure that Jareth had first implemented when he bought an old whaler about to be scrapped seven years ago, in addition to hiring fellow mer at starvation wages.

Suspended above that in a series of harnesses was a whale, groaning in agony from the pain of having its skin slowly being peeled off by mechanical saws suspended from the ceiling and programmed with clockwork instructions (albeit ones much more basic than the ones used in Xens) to relentlessly hack away until the subject was dead. Then long needles like the ones he'd seen in Amara's murder weapon and Alice's weapon extracted usable blood, meat, and most importantly oil for further refinement into barrels that would then be sold and consumed.

And the creature that would unwillingly give its life to make those products struggled, looked at him, gave an almost human like sigh, and then used its tentacles and flippers to slap away a couple of overzealous eels that were jumping up and trying to pick at open wounds that smelled fresher to them.

"Jareth...at last we meet in person," grinned an apparition of Elizabeth Jersey, the Dollmaker. "I'm going to play with you, doll. But not in the way you're probably thinking of," she winked. "Perhaps if the circumstances were different...but in any event. This is your test to see if you are worthy to join my little Family."

Despite being a projection that he couldn't touch, Elizabeth used very real strength to yank Jareth's cane away from him and toss it into the water, where it was summarily devoured by the eels. "They call me a murderer, but at least I set people free from the pain of this nasty, brutish and short life. You've only destroyed innocent animals, and now you must cross the rivers of blood you've shed to obtain your wealth and confront your devilish handiwork if you are to protect my little mouse- you know, the one you took for yourself so soon after your precious Amara was cold."

With a snap of her fingers and the phrase, "Kindly stop for me," Jareth could hear Alice shrieking in pain and, through the murky bottom of the glass that held back the blood and eels, see her clutch her chest. "I just told Alice's brain to tell her heart to stop beating. Oh, the heart is a stubborn muscle, and Alice is as stubborn as they come. Assuming nothing else...unfortunate should happen, she won't die for twenty four hours. But if you don't get across the way in the next thirty minutes, then I will drop our mutual friend from the harness, and the poor little mouse will go squish. That is, if the eels don't eat her first. And I've done the same thing to your heart, so any funny business and you get the same. Toodles!" That last exclamation was the last from the phantom before Elizabeth disappeared.
 
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He heard the muffled cry behind him. Turning on his bad leg cost him a second too long and he had no time to reach out even to try to grab ahold of Alice before she fell through the floor.

Not that he’d have had that second regardless, with cane in one hand and spear gun in the other. He was at an ever pressing disadvantage currently, all in all.

A grunt of frustration escaped as the lights flared to full capacity. His eyes narrowing against the flash of bright. His vision dancing with small orbs as he struggled to adjust to the sudden glare. Dancing over the expanse of space before him. Focusing slowly on the hanging beast before him in its own perilous predicament before shifting and gliding clearly over the mechanism holding it up. The splash of the eels drew his attention and he watched in silence a moment before the echoing release of air as it sighed rang in his ears and drew his attention instead to the pitiful eyes of the whale. Begging him to stop this, perhaps begging him to put it out of its misery altogether. He cringed. It was looking at him as if it knew without a doubt that he had done this to it. He looked away.

A voice startling him to his right, he flinched and instinct kicked in. He swung his cane at the person speaking. He knew where Alice was and anyone else that would be in here with them was considered enemy. He gave it no thought other than that and even that thought dissipated as he watched the very solid cane swipe right through the neck of the woman as she continued to speak.

It threw him off a second but in the next he was left perplexed and off guard as it was ripped from his grip and he was left wondering how that could be if she wasn’t anything more than a holographic image taunting him.

The spear gun raised, aimed directly at Elizabeth as his eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. Anger boiling deep in the pit of his belly as his heart ached from the rising pressure - and the knowledge that he felt like he was losing his grip on the entire situation.

His finger flexed against the trigger. His jaw twitched at the mention of Amara. His teeth gritting inside his mouth, audibly even as she continued to speak. Murderer was an accurate term, whether he knew for certain or not, he’d heard the stories. It took all of his will not to pull the trigger, not to lash out. It would do no good and he knew that, logically. Why risk another weapon being ripped from his grasp again? His grip growing tighter against the spear gun, in case she decided to try again on principle alone and leave him completely defenseless.

Dark, emotion filled daggers stared Elizabeth down with a growing hatred burning deep within as he continued to listen in silence. His chest rose and fell angrily as he stared over the spear gun, until he heard the muffled shriek from below. His attention jerked in that direction, eyes staring through the rippling reddened waters and mess, the twist and jerk of eels every so often clearing just the briefest path through the murk and allowing him the briefest glimpse as he watched Alice clutching her chest.

A hitched gasp escaped and his gaze shot back to Elizabeth, the spear gun lowering slowly as he leveled a pleading look on the woman. His lips moved as if he were trying to find the right words to spill forth but before he could, she was gone.

He blinked, the tension slipping from his shoulders and into his back. His mind racing as his knees threatened to give way beneath him. He leaned back against the filth covered wall behind him, eyes staring at the pitiful creature he’d put into that harness or rather had others do it for him.

He needed to collect his thoughts, gather a plan. Or....maybe he should just let her stop his heart. If he failed, he didn’t think it would matter much anyways.

He closed his eyes, the low wail echoing through the room of the pained animal. The splash of water and muck as teeth tore into flesh. Even with his eyes closed, he could see it all. Just as he could still hear Alice’s wail of pain and see her clutching her chest.

He couldn’t watch her die. He couldn’t be the reason she did. He wouldn’t.

His attention settled on the whale, he could still see and few its pain as it looked upon him with pitiful, pain filled eyes. Continuing to swat away at the blood thirsty creatures below it.

The spear gun rose and he took aim. He had less than thirty minutes now and what he planned on doing would cost the creature more pain and suffering, not to mention, he’d likely receive a swat or two himself if he wasn’t careful.

Without a second hesitation, he pulled the trigger, launching a spear nearly dead center of the sea creatures head. Lodging it right in her brain. Whale eyes seemed to widen and stare, accusatory at Jareth once again.

”Sorry, ol’ girl.”

He murmured apologetically and just barely above a whisper, his gaze dropping momentarily as she writhed in her restraints. The wailing grew louder, reverberating off the walls. He could feel them shaking beneath his back. He straightened, knowing a single spear alone wouldn’t do the trick but there were no explosives attached. Of course he hadn’t planned on killing any whales today. No more than he’d planned on having to save his girl or himself from a maniacal, bitter bitch either. Dinner. Winning Alice’s affections over completely and properly. He’d been hopeful for a consumption of said winning of affections but it hadn’t been set in stone and it hadn’t been something he’d have pushed for if she’d said no....regardless none of this was what he’d planned at all.

Gritting his teeth, he let lose another spear. Landing the blow not far from the other. It wouldn’t kill her immediately but it would make the process a little quicker. It would give him a moment to hobble across the catwalk until he was close enough he’d be able to jump onto the whale and get across the way.

He looked at his watch. 20 minutes left at best. He pulled the last two spears from the gun, tucking them into the waist of his slacks and tossed the gun itself to the walkway. There was still a little life left in the old girl and he felt....something he’d rarely felt before as he leapt from the catwalk, hands grasping and jerking against the heavily imbedded harpoons that stuck out from her head. Sorrow and a churning in his stomach as she jerked from the added weight of his body as he held on tight a moment until she’d settled again with a fading wail.

Once she was still and gone, sparing her any further pain he was about to inflict, he drew the remaining spears from his slacks, angrily jabbing first one and then the other into the whales flesh. He’d been rock climbing plenty of times with John. His friend hated it because while they were evenly matched in hand to hand combat, Jareth whooped his ass every time they were on the face of a cliff. His upper body strength made up for the weakness in his leg. Just like the advantage it gave him then, it did so now. He just hoped he could make it across in enough time. There was usually no rush as he scaled the rocks. Here there was and he still needed to be mindful of any miscalculations, otherwise he’d plummet to the writhing pool of eels below and it would be game over for him and Alice.
 
Alice's chest was still tight as all get out, and that meant she had extreme shortness of breath, which came out through the helmet as a high pitched whistling as the dazed detective settled down onto the grimy floor. Alice tried to dig inside herself for strength, as she always had.

"Give up the fight, Alice," Elizabeth sweetly serenaded her ex-girlfriend and archrival as she used her apparition to help Alice to her feet and hugged her limp body.

"When will you realize?” Elizabeth hissed. “You are so powerful, my darling, but you always refused to believe that we needed each other, which has always held you back. But now that I literally have your heart in my hands, I hope you finally see the truth. That no one can really love you, all of you like I did. Like I still do. The only way out of all your pain is if you join the Family, my darling Alice. That, or death."

Alice gave a short, angry grunt, batted away the vision, and pawed at the walls, looking for a weakness, or at least a place that her grappling hook could latch onto. Then she saw Jareth climbing the side of a dead whale for his life.

"Ah, the man you think you love. Or rather, that you stole and played with while his girlfriend was barely cold, almost like I did the women I turned into angels. It's really rather funny when you think about it," Elizabeth laughed. "And what he doesn't know is that someone will be greeting him when he gets to the other side. If you don't figure out a way past my children...and make your choice...then Jareth will die because of you!"

Elizabeth invaded her mind with a vision of her greeter- a musclebound, grotesque man trapped in a Golem suit, and spilling out of it- as dozens of her disciples poured In from the walls to surround.

"Iiiiit has been faaar too looooong," another voice growled in Alice's head, as she became a small young girl and its eyes surrounded her mind with shadow, including phantom Goliaths stomping through the void and opening fire on nothing, ghostly apparitions of the people she killed, Abigail yelling at her when they were both soldiers, and hands grabbing at her to try to drag her down into insanity. "You are doing well, Elizabeth. We can smell her fear."

"No. No. No! NO!" Alice cried in her head as she sank to her knees, but these came through her numbed throat and the suit as feral growls. The moment she saw his human eye, the truth washed over her like an angry wave. Whether by force or by persuasion, Elizabeth had convinced what used to be a man, a Knight of the Church of Solstice, to take enough philters to become her misshapen right hand. And once it sank in who that was, it nearly broke Alice.

Edward. Oh, my sweet Eddie. I should never have left you, baby brother. I shouldn't have been so angry with you. I was just a kid back then, and I was so scared...but you needed me. You needed me and I failed you before I could save you. But I can't fail HIM. And if I have to, I...don't make me...please, please, please... her thoughts wailed until they were babbling in the recesses of her mind.

Her grief, her rage, her despair all whirled together, until she rose to her feet as the mutated followers of The Family closed in and let out an ear-rending shriek that slightly split the glass above her. One that had made the Surabambans and merfolk who dared oppose the Caledorian Empire tremble in the shadow of the ocean before her and the thousands of other Golems that black day at the Battle of Sanctuary Trench, before they were massacred wholesale.

This was the sound of ultimate fury.

Of war incarnate.

"Come, embraaaaaace The Darknesssss, Aliiiiiice!" the voices of both Elizabeth and the mysterious monster inside Alice's head screamed in unison as her porthole glowed red and she charged into battle. The mutated men and women opened fire with their philter powers and guns, but Alice unleashed three years of suppressed Darkness, which was a far more powerful weapon.

She cleanly stabbed one man through the face and into his brain in one swift motion with her needle, then extracted his blood, tossed his corpse at one of his friends, and set them both on fire with the power she stole from him. Moments later, a shell of dark armor surrounded her and absorbed scattergun blasts unleashed by one woman until Alice riddled her with exploding rivets. Next, she jumped upon yet another man, ripped his arm off with inhuman strength, and beat him to death with it as he begged for mercy.

The rest decided to quit the fight and flee, looking for any escape, but the holes in the walls that had allowed them to enter the arena were sealed shut, and by the time they figured they could try to scramble up the shaft that Alice had fallen into, she was upon them and it was too late...and within minutes, Alice was giving a victorious roar over a pile of dead bodies. Which is exactly what Elizabeth wanted, as she chuckled to herself miles away from the boat she'd trapped them in.
 
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Hand over hand. Harpoon over harpoon.

Below, the eels had shifted focus from the now dead meat of the whale and honed in on the very fresh scent of a living being. Sweat, fear and the faint but coppery tinge of blood caused them to rile in a slippery, wet and nasty pile beneath Jareth.

He was looking down when the first leapt from the gory pool below, jaws opening to take a bite out of the dangling little treat of a man. His legs jerked, knees squishing into an open wound of flesh and blubber as they bent away from the eels razor sharp teeth.

With a grunt, he jerked the right harpoon from its station, preparing to stab into the flesh a little further ahead. A second eel took a leap and before he could secure the harpoon in place, he used it to stab at the small ugly, vicious little beast, with a dying shrill shriek as it sliced through an eye and into its carnivorous brain, it fell back into the roiling pool below.

Jareth continued, stabbing harpoon to flesh before he could lose his grip. Using the advantage to move his ass as the felled eels brethren consumed it before again turning their attention to Jareth.

Even as his concentration remained focused on the task at hand, repeatedly moving across the expanse of the dead whale, killing the eels as he could, a single mantra repeated silently in his head.

”I’m coming baby, just hold on.”

It was as much for him as it was for Alice. If he didn’t keep that in his head, exhaustion was likely to take over and consume him, just as the beasts below would if he made one wrong move or just gave up.

When he finally made it to a safe spot on the opposite side, he dropped to the floor. The single spear he held in his hand clanged against the flooring at his feet as he stripped the bloodied, wet shirt from himself. No sooner had he flung it in frustration, he heard the heavy thump of foot behind him.

Acidic rage and fear, bubbled angrily in the pit of his stomach as he turned. A guttural growl preceded the large boulder like fist that bore down on him. He tried to duck out of its path but it wasn’t enough and when it landed against his shoulder, he heard a soft pop as he was flung back against the opposing wall. Another pop as the hard landing popped his shoulder right back into place, painfully.

The room momentarily spun before he shook his head. In the blur of vision that momentarily lingered, he saw the towering edifice of a man-beast bearing down on him again. As a fist soared directly for his face, he sucked in a breath and ducked, slipping past and behind Edward just as metal slammed against metal, sending a loud vibration ricocheting around the boat.

His vision cleared, he straightened and stood, staring at the twisted and mutated back of the beast. That bitch had sent this monstrosity to bury him and he knew it. He had no weapons and standing toe to toe with this thing, he knew he was....essentially nothing but an annoying bug that it could easily flick away. But the protector, the soldier, the warrior in him rose angrily to the surface. He’d be damned if he was going to lay down and die without a fight, without trying.

That silent mantra flit through his mind once more...”I’m coming baby, just hold on.”...before he cleared his head completely. He stood, staring as the beast of a man turned to face the escaped target. Jareth’s gaze dark and eerily calm as he took in everything, letting all other thought and pain slip away. Seeking points of weakness, even the smallest points, whatever could possibly give him even the smallest bit of advantage and hope to survive at least long enough to get to Alice.

He took his stance, fists raised. A shift of his head, a pop of his neck as tension rose in his shoulders, he muttered just above the deep growl from the big beast across from him.

”Let’s go, big man.”

The level of calm in his voice slightly unsettled even him. It spoke clearly, he was ready to fight or die trying. Perhaps like a man at the end of his rope, with little to nothing left to lose.

The mutated creature wasted no time in launching itself at Jareth, the deadly contraption of its huge right paw swinging and aiming for his head. Jareth ducked, stepped forward and landed a fist swiftly and hard against the side of the beasts knee. Edward roared in pain as his leg jerked from the impact and pain that shot through his knee. Swinging wildly as he turned to follow his target, intent on squishing the bug before he could get away too far.

The wild swing landed against Jareth’s midsection and once again tossed him into the wall. Edward rushed forward, growling. Left monstrosity of an arm swinging as Jareth fought to catch his breath. He could feel a thin line of blood sliding down his stomach where the metal had cut into his flesh but he’d blocked out the pain and paid it little attention as a hand shot up to grasp as far around the grotesque wrist as possible. With surprising strength, he managed to hold it as his left fist swung toward a glob of flesh that protruded from the beasts midsection, hanging over its waistband like a popped can of biscuit dough.

Whether it was from pain or surprise that such a little man had so much fight in him, Edward let out a surprised grunt as a flurry of punches landed against his exposed flesh. After a moment, a large paw grabbed Jareth by the neck and pinned him against the wall.

Jareth cringed as fingers as thick as his wrists dug into his throat, angry fight filled eyes stared back at the singular distorted pupil that glared at him. The mutated things grip grew tighter and Jareth fought to breath, a clawing hand scratching and prying at the vice like grip before finally tearing away and in a wild punch, aimed for that disgusting, murderous eye that watched as Edward tried to strangle the life from him.

A howl of pain and Jareth dropped to his feet, drawing in a sharp breath of air. His bad knee wobbling unsteadily for a moment before he launched into action as Edward staggered at the punch.

With an outraged cry, and unsteady as he was, he put all his weight on his bad leg as he lifted the other and planted a hard and heavy kick against Edward’s plate covered middle, sending the monstrous beast staggering backwards, the back of his legs butting against the edge of the gore pit, large arms twirling wildly to try to regain balance but failing miserably.

Jareth, winded, wounded and still trying to catch his breath, fell backwards and slid down the wall to land on his ass as Edward tipped backward into the pit. The cracked glass breaking completely, sending watery gore, eels and Edward plummeting into the room below with Alice.

It took a minute before he realized what he’d done and with a breathy mutter, Jareth pushed himself back up, limping toward the edge of the pit and without much thought, himself jumped over and down into the room as well.

He landed hard, partially atop Edwards prone form and the rest of the dead bodies beneath him. One of the few eels that had survived, smelling the fresh blood lunged at Jareth. In his rage, his hands shot up quickly, fingers curling around the things razor sharp maw and he pulled, snapping the eels jaw further open before he tossed it aside to let it die in agony. His angry gaze snapped down to the limp form of Edward before he kicked him, a scream of anger leaving his throat before he straightened and turned to gaze over the room.

His breathing erratic and heavy. The Prince of Olseka. The man who’d made an empire on land. Gone. The driven, anger filled man that had become leader, General, in the Aquarian Army stared almost emptily at the carnage that littered the room at his feet. Until his gaze found Alice. The hollow, angry look in his eyes disappeared. The warrior breath fled. His heart still beat erratically but as quickly as it had all come, it was gone and he rushed toward Alice, his voice softening.

”Alice.”
 
One moment, Alice was trying to reorient herself after spending so much of her energy fighting off a dozen, maybe two dozen angry psychos. The next, exploding chunks of whale meat, organ, blood, and the beaten and unrecognizable body of Edward fell into the pit that she had resided in. With no eels threatening to tear her to pieces anymore, Alice was able to swim towards the sound of her name on the rising red tide, her entire suit coated in crimson, until she clung to the edge of the de facto pool, and then hugged Jareth, not realizing or caring that she was getting his clothes irreparably soaked in smelly whale viscera. But there was no time for a gentler, slower embrace; Alice soon broke away and began feeling her way through the darkness for the exit.

That was, until a sloshing sound drew her attention back to the lake of gore that had nearly consumed her. Edward was still alive after all that, and charged straight at Jareth. Alice slowed him down with a shriek that broke some of the remaining intact glass aboard the ship and sparked wires, before peppering him with exploding rivets and pouring forth a river of fire at him using the last of the philter fluid that she'd extracted from the blood of her victims. For a time, as the smoke cleared, it seemed that perhaps that had done him in at last. Alice didn't know which might be scarier; the idea that he would survive that much heat and damage based solely on whatever horrifying mutagenic chemical was keeping him in this state, or that he wouldn't, and that this would be it. She would lose her brother forever...

Edward didn't give any indication one way or the other as his hulking frame knelt beside the edge of the pool. If there was breathing beneath the heavy diving suit, it was shallow. And then he stomped towards wherever Jareth was heading, roaring in pain and fury the whole way.

Alice shrieked and sent more rivets into his back, but he regarded them as annoying bee stings more than anything, and then bull rushed her, in the process forcing her to drop her gun while she rolled out of the way and then flattening it into scrap. She had one last weapon, one last chance, before she was forced once again to call upon the malevolent force inside her, so she swung her needle and got it stuck in some gelatinous flesh. Before she could manage to disengage, her little brother (not so little any more) bent her arm back in the wrong direction. Through the excruciating pain shooting up and down all her nerve endings, Alice's eyes squeezed shut, and so she realized too late that he was lifting her exhausted body in a bear hug...

...and then slammed her down on the floor, breaking her spine in half when it was pinned between his meaty hands and the hard steel.

That was the only thing that ended the pain, because she couldn't feel anything below the neck as she rolled away limply from his death grip. After that, Elizabeth’s voice ordered him to break open the door and leave them there, then set off the 24-hour timer on Jareth’s heart just to be sure they would both die, one way or the other.

Alice was sure that this was it as she passed out. That she was about to make the final journey into the undiscovered country. As an atheist, she had never really believed that anything happened to souls beyond death, but she was about to find out.

Except that she didn't. All she could see was Jareth rushing to her aid, and then a lot of water, and then...she was back on Stormaway Beach at night. It was in the cold northwest of Caledoria about a ten hour train ride away from Radiant, and it would take her mother months to save up what money she could, and stop her father from drinking away all of his money, to buy the fare to take her, Edward, and Rose for the day while their father was away whaling. But thankfully, it wasn't a dream destination for most tourists, unlike, say Cardenath in the east or Ilgamish on the idyllic southwest coast. So the kids would often have the beach all to themselves for a large part of the day, while the sea winds finally helped their mother with her tuberculosis. Then Alice would sneak away from the cottage (where they did chores for the elderly couple that owned it in exchange for staying rent free) at night after everyone else was asleep to see stars she never could in the city and just...breathe. Be herself.

This place held some of the happiest memories in her formative years, and as Alice saw that she was now wearing a grown up version of the bathing dress she'd worn back then, she surmised that her dying brain was building this as a way to try to hold on while her body slipped away. There were worse mind palaces that she could, and had, constructed over the years.

One voice filled her head; Elizabeth proclaiming, "You failed, little mouse, for the last time."

Alice wanted to scream that no, she hadn't. That Elizabeth could never get away with this. That Jareth would find a way to save her. But she had no voice left.

Because it was true. She had failed.

Sure, she had solved the mystery of Amara's death, but what good could it do Jareth if she couldn't tell him herself, taking her identification of Elizabeth as the plausible mastermind to her grave? If only she hadn't wasted so much time with silly flings and baseless anxieties...

Further back, if she hadn't abandoned Rose after their mother died, and then Edward when he needed her, and then Abigail when she had done nothing but love her...maybe even Elizabeth could have been given help if Alice hadn't betrayed her...

In the shadow of the ocean that lay before her, black, slimy apparitions of her past started groaning and marching towards her. She could hear the screams of dying merfolk and Surabambans that filled her nightmares, the mechanical calls and stomping of Goliaths, the unnatural roars of the abomination Edward had somehow been twisted into, the death rattle of Amara as she was raped and murdered. There was no more she could do to fight, and it would only be a matter of time before the apparitions reached her and dragged her into the abyss. Or so she told herself.

Then little flashes of the real world moving around her entered her mind as she breathed faintly. A lot of water surrounding her, threatening to crack the weakened glass of her porthole. A whale song. Linen sheets? This near death vision was confusing.

And then, finally, back on the beach, a lighthouse emerged from the ground behind her. Alice smiled and knew who that represented as it shined a light on the black, goopy water and managed to drive back the inevitable, if only for a few precious moments.

That bought Alice just enough time to do something she hadn't done since she was 16, when the very tune she was about to conjure had convinced a delusional homeless man who busked on the street corner next to her that she belonged to him, convincing him to force himself on her, ultimately leading to his death by her hand.

She began to softly and slowly sing the only song she knew every word of without having to reference a single page of sheet music. A song her mother loved and would often sing to her when she had a nightmare.

"Stars shining bright above you,
Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"
Birds singing in the sycamore tree.
Dream a little dream of me.

Say nighty-night and kiss me,
Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me.
While I'm alone, blue as can be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading but I linger on, dear
Still craving your kiss.
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear,
Just saying this

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading but I linger on, dear
Still craving your kiss.
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear,
Just saying this

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries far behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me..."

Alice started to cry, yet continued to sing her heart out, not knowing if anyone could hear her, not knowing if it would matter, not knowing if...if Jareth...

She couldn't think like that. She had to hang on for him. She just had to. As long as he believed in her, then she would never fail.

And so, as she was surrounded by waves from the ocean that finally turned into black, clawing hands come to pull her away at last, she relaxed, closed her eyes, and finally whispered-

"I love you."

Those words somehow, someway, echoed in the real world too...
 
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Jareth, no longer under the control of the most primal rage that had swelled within him even in human form, logistically knew he stood no chance what so ever against Edward but he’d be damned regardless if he let the monstrosity descend on Alice.

When the beast he thought he’d slain began sloshing toward him, he turned and drew Edwards attention away from Alice entirely. He felt the brush of massive finger tips scrap down his back as he ran in the opposite direction. Stopping only when he heard....no chase.

He turned to see Edward knelt. Jareth’s eyes narrowed on the hulking form before he turned his attention toward Alice.

”Go!”

The simple shout was followed by the point of his hand upward, if she still had the grappling hook, she could go up, get to higher ground still. Chunks of whale still hung stubbornly from hooks. It would put her out of reach.

A stir of motion brought his attention back to Edward as the hulking form stood and stomped toward him again. With a grunt, he turned, limping but intent on still leading the enraged monstrosity further away from her.

Edward’s roar and Alice’s shriek mingled in his ears, just as he felt Edward clip him, hard in the shoulder. Sending him staggering forward, to his hands and knees. He tucked and rolled, turning to face whatever hell was about to be dealt him in a death he was sure was coming. He was preparing to welcome it, as long as Alice was safe.

What his gaze fell upon was not what he’d expected. Alice hadn’t gone like he’d told her to and Edward had changed course and was on her before he could truly process anything he might have been able to do. The crack he heard as she was slammed against the floor, shook him to his core and seemed to steal his breath from his chest.

His gaze darted, in search of something, anything he could use as a weapon. Most everything had been buried beneath the pool of bloodied water and by the time he spied a steel beam that had strayed from the rest of the mess nearby and he’d managed to grab it....Edward had smashed through the door and roared away.

As he rushed as fast as he could limp, even with the aid of the beam, toward Alice, he watched the glow of her porthole flickering and while it didn’t die, it paled.

And he gently cussed the hell out of her for not listening to him just this once, as he gingerly lifted her from the floor.

He knew he had to be careful but he also knew he couldn’t waste much time either. She was still alive, damaged but still alive and he knew of only one way to truly fix her. He was running on fumes though. He was battered, bruised and teetering at the very edge of exhaustion.

Even as he made his way through the gaping hole that used to be the door, with her pressed as flush against him as possible as he navigated his way toward the boats deck, he wondered if he would make it to Olseka fast enough.

He whispered against the side of helmet, as if she could hear him, hoping she could in fact.

”Hang on, love.”

Just as the words escaped his lips, just before he’d take the plunge into the waters below that slapped against the side of the boat, he felt a jerk inside his chest. Subconsciously he knew what it meant but it didn’t matter at the moment. Alice did and it was imperative he get moving.

He stripped the ring from his finger, sliding it over the thin material that covered her fingers. Making sure it was secure before he stepped forward and dropped into the water, holding tight enough against her to hurt her anymore than she already was.

He felt the constraints of his slacks pulling apart until they were completely gone, his legs replaced by tail. He’d pushed himself during his fight with Edward so hard that remnants of the pain remained even in his merform. He tried to shake it off with a heavy flip of his tail as he shot further down into the water and as he swam, his thoughts simply continued to beg her to hold on.

It would be an hour at least before he really started to feel the pain and exhaustion setting in, deeply in. And he still had a bit before they’d reach Olseka. He could feel himself slowing, he still paid little attention to the small clutches inside his chest, he fought the ever pressing want just to close his eyes and rest. He couldn’t afford to. Alice couldn’t afford for him to.

He was determined. He tried.

The soft cry of a whale jerked him awake. A sharp gasp escaping him as he felt the large and solid body beneath his chest. His head jerked, finding Alice laying beside him, laying face up. His left arm gently laying across her, holding her in place as the large body beneath them sliced through the colder waters of the deep. His free hand brushed against what felt like a small button, upon closer inspection he noted it was a tag, one of his own in fact....likely attached to a piece of a harpoon from an unsuccessful hunt against this animal. Meanwhile, oxygen was supplied to them both as well as to the animal by an air bubble auctioned against the massive pore next to them and which had strength enough to hold back water great enough to crush a boat.

He tensed as another cry vibrated beneath him. A sound he knew well enough. One of forlorn loss. A hint of agitation buried beneath the sound. Before he could question the animal, he could see Olseka cresting before them. The whale drew to a stop at the gates to the city, settling its belly against the oceans floor and with a shake of her tail, the message was clear. Get off. She wasn’t going any further.

Adamaris obliged, scooping Alice up as he did. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out, he didn’t even remember the darkness of complete exhaustion consuming him. He only remembered hearing Alice in his head, singing, even as he repeatedly begged her to hold on. Even in his sleep he’d heard her and he continued to implore her to just hold on. His heart crying out to her, much like the cry the whale had given off and perhaps it had been verbalized without him knowing it, perhaps he’d called the creature unknowingly. Whatever the reason, he applied a gentle and grateful stroke of his hand against the side of the whales face before he was once again off as fast as his tail could propel him.

He paid no attention to the looks or whispers as he raced through the city proper. Most shocked or disgusted to see the Prince, returned. Not only returned but racing through with Alice...in her golem suit.

He made a beeline for the Palace first. The single Ashungi that made up the necklace he’d given her wasn’t enough. What he’d told her about the bauble was true, it was worn by royalty but he hadn’t told her that it also served as a healing agent as well. That there was an entire garden of it at the Palace.

That was all he was after currently. Guards had seen him slip in, they’d also seen the golem suit and that, more than anything was what had raised their alarms. However, Adamaris was through and had snagged a handful of the glowing pebbles and was back out and headed toward the hospital before the King could even be informed.

”What....are you doing, Adamaris?”

The musical voice barked sharply as Caerulia rounded the corner and stopped just inside the hospital rooms doorway. Her brother had just barreled through like he owned the place, demanding an empty room and Cae’s presence of course.

”I want you to....to come fix her. Now. Please.”

”Adamaris, you know I can’t just....”

”Now, Cae. You’re the best. I trust you. Please. Hurry. Please.”

Cae sighed softly. She’d never seen her brother so worked up before. Who was this “her” he wanted her to attend to? She slipped further into the room with a sleek grace like few others possessed and peered into the bed. Brilliant blue eyes turned to him, as he stood less than arms length from her.

”Why is she wearing that....thing.”

”It doesn’t matter, Cae....just....here....”

Jareth grabbed her hand and shoved the pebbles into her palm and continued pleading, adamantly with his sibling.

”Heal. Her.”

Caerulia opened her hand and stared incredulously down at the glowing pebbles, her lips falling open before her attention snapped back to her brother.

”She’s Human and wearing that thing....and you want me to use these!? Have you lost your mind, Adamaris!? Dad would bl.....”

He didn’t hear the rest of his sisters tirade as a smaller voice danced not only through his head but into the air between them, from the motionless figure in the bed. A simple, quiet ”I love you.”

His head snapped back toward his sister, a flash of anger rising to the surface.

”I don’t give a shit about what the great King Meredydd would or wouldn’t do. Damn it, Cae.....just do what I’m telling you to do. I need you to, while there is still time, please!”

Cae flinched at the rise of his voice, the step he took closer, the glint in his eyes as he fired back at her louder than he had been. Her eyes shifted slightly. Her head bobbing. Yes. But not in response to him.

Seconds later he’d feel the prick of a needle and a softly burning sensation as the sedation medicine slipped into his system. It was a heavy dose, it had to be to put someone like Adamaris out quickly.

She cringed at the shocked look her brother gave before he started pitching forward. Hands grabbed his arms and waist before dragging his limp frame to the bed a few feet away from Alice.

Cae stood between the beds. Her eyes trailing over the bare form of her brother. Taking in all of his wounds. She could hear the odd stutter of his heart as well and it took her a moment to realize that she was hearing it....in stereo. She turned to the probe figure in the other bed. Her eyes studying the young woman, encased in the golem suit. In contemplation she rolled the pebbles around in her hand before a sigh slid past her lips.

”Fine, Adamaris.....”

Once she’d made up her mind, she set into motion, calling in her team to come help her extract the patient from the contraption she was in.
 
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And extract her they did. The nurses, overwhelmingly male eunuchs, began that process by unlocking a series of latches along the neckline of her helmet in order to depressurize her suit environment, letting off a little steam in the process. Removing the helmet then allowed them to pop off the metal around her equipment and then each tightly sealed duraleather piece of the rest of the suit, until she was bare before them.

Mer culture did not think much about nudity. It wasn’t encouraged all the time in public, especially in front of non-mer guests, but those merfolk who chose to forgo human concepts like clothing for their lives were not frowned upon either. (Besides, some of it was practical- most clothes would get wet whenever a merman or mermaid ventured outside the city, so they simply didn’t bother). All the attention that was paid to Alice was that the men wiped her down with a washcloth to flush out any wounds and prevents infection. Thankfully, there were not too many of those thanks to the strength and flexibility of the hated golem armor.

But even the biggest symbol of ultimate Imperial ruthlessness besides the Goliath had its limitations. Namely that sufficient force applied to some of the joints in the exoskeleton could drive them into the user, as had been the case for Alice’s spine.

Undeterred by the long medical odds and the fact that King Meredydd would almost certainly have their hides for taking from the Royal Garden (which was the only place where ashungi rocks were to be found), the nurses ground up the ashungi, suspended it in a solution, and tilted Alice’s head back to make her drink it.

A couple minutes after the last of the ashen liquid arrived in her stomach, Alice’s drowning response kicked in and she coughed away the offending concoction. “Where- am- whose- J-Jareth?!” Alice blurted out and stammered.

“Where is he?” she asked, and when one of the nurses pointed to the bed to her left, she tried to leap out and see him, only for magical restraints to bind her arms to her sides. Someone tried to explain that she was under arrest by order of King Meredydd and that he would be there soon, but she didn’t know or care. Instead, she demanded, “Jareth, you have to be okay! All of this is my fault and I can’t bear to lose you because- if I...I’m dizzyyyy...”

Alice then closed her eyes for a little bit and said to the doctor, “Sorry, still getting ungrogged. I’m Alice Guthrie, Jareth’s...private detective.” Focusing on their professional relationship for the benefIt of others in Olseka seemed like the right call, at least until Jareth was ready to confront the issue that they’d been forced to skip at dinner head on. “You must be Caerulia. A pleasure, and- thank you.”
 
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Cae stood quietly leaned against the doorframe, watching over her team as they finished up. Watching over her brother and the woman he’d risked bringing here.

When the young woman mentioned she was Adamaris’ private detective, a pristine crimson brow lifted in curiosity as her blue eyes shifted to her brothers prone form beyond Alice.

”Mm, knowing my brother, I suspect it’s much more than that simple. Please, call me Cae....and don’t thank me, thank the naked idiot over there that came through here like a raging bull whale with no regards to himself or anyone other than you.”

She stepped around a nurse that was pulling a small sheet up and over Alice, shooing the man away, Caerulia stepped up directly beside the woman. A soft smile curling her full lips said that her words didn’t hold the sharpness as much as one would think. She loved her brother, even if she thought he was a bit of an idiot. Cae casually tucked the sheet down and around Alice’s frame before letting her fingers linger at the magical bonds at the girls wrists.

”I do hope these aren’t too tight and please forgive their necessity. As the nurses said, Father will be here soon and I will explain to him that it was Adamaris and not you that took the Ashungi from the Palace grounds.”

She didn’t bat an eye as she called Jareth by his true name in front of the girl. Again, she knew her brother. She suspected the girl already knew about him, her reaction when she’d woken was a clear enough sign, coupled with Adamaris’ actions. However, even IF she didn’t know, she would soon enough. Adamaris would have to explain how the woman had ended up far beneath the seas surface, in a world of sea creatures and merfolk. Here, it wasn’t something that could be hidden much, so if the girl didn’t know, then Adamaris was likely prepared to spill the beans.

She reached to the small rolling table beside her and drew a glass from it. A juice to help with any lingering dehydration but before she offered it to Alice, she asked.

”How are you feeling?”

Doctor mode kicking in. She knew there would be some residual aches and pain, it was to be expected, even with the intense healing properties of the Ashungi but of course, she needed to keep an eye on anything that went beyond that as well.

*******************

He was drifting, in a quiet sea of darkness. Laying limp, all over, against the sterile white of the hospital bed. He’d felt hands on him as the nurses worked over his wounds. He felt the cold of the poultices they used on his bruises and cuts. But all he could really hear, deep within the blackness of sedation that consumed him....was Alice’s voice. At first it was just the memory of her song. And then the I love you he heard before everything went dark. Her voice caressed and settled his tired mind.

Still as he was, it would be noticed the faint twitch of his eyes behind their closed lids and the twitch of his fingers.....as his name fell from Alice’s lips each time.

Then another voice crept in, more memories. The nurses noted an uptick in his breathing. Cae would keep her eye on it, but it came and went. With the brain quiet, it allowed him or rather them to rise once again to the surface and remind him......told Alice's brain to tell her heart....stop beating.......she won't die for twenty four hours......done the same thing to your heart....

With a gasp his eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright, a hand clutching at his chest. Startling the nurse that had stayed behind, startling Cae.

”Alice! Did you do it, Cae!? Did you fix her?”

He demanded as he started pulling at the poultice packs from his chest and midsection. Cae set the glass back onto the tray and hurried around Alice’s bed and toward her brother, a hand dropping to his shoulder.

”Adamaris, stop.”

Of course he didn’t listen to her, though he did look up at her even as he ripped one from his side. His brow pinching together before a snark curled his lips and he snorted at her.

He pushed his arm against her midsection to get her to move as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and started to stand. A rustle to his left caught his attention and swiftly and easily his hand shot around and back, wrapping around the nurses wrist as Jareth turned an angry glare on the man.

”We do not have time for this shit. You hit me with that again and you can rest assured when I wake the second time, I will kick your ass from here to shore.”

He growled and glared at the sedative filled needle and plunger dangling in the kids grip. Then whipped around to his sister again even as he began limping toward Alice’s bed, seeing she was in fact awake.

”Ali-cat.....”

It was low and pressed past his lips in a soft relief and adoration filled tone. His palm reaching out and sweeping against her cheek. Despite him wanting to grab her and scoop her up into his arms, he wasn’t sure how much damage Caerulia had fixed yet.

”How long have we been here? Did you fix everything? Her heart too?”

He glance side long at his sister, watching her face contort in mild confusion.

”A...a couple hours. There is nothing wrong with her heart but yes, against my better judgement, I used the Ashungi and fixed her, Adamaris and now Dad is on his way here.”

Cae replied in exasperation. Jareth sighed and straightened.

”Wrong. There is something very wrong with her heart.”

His lips pursed together as he glanced downward, fingers tapping against his chest, his heart, he finally admitted that there was something really wrong with him too, Alice was alright now and he had no desire to have that right in his grasp only to die himself because he was too stubborn to also worry at least a bit about himself.

”Mine too, Cae. We have less than 20 hours before they....just stop.”

He didn’t elaborate further at that point. The reason was inconsequential and his sister only needed to know that she had to fix the problem that she was capable of fixing. He would take care of Elizabeth when he could, he was the warrior. Cae was the healer. He knew she was smart enough to know that nothing physical was wrong and nothing physical would be the fix.

”Alright. I’ll see what I can do, Ad.”

She nodded, speaking after a moment of shocked silence. She looked past him to Alice and sighed before peering up at her brother again.

”Go tend to her, I’ll be back.”

With that, she stepped around him and started out the door. He started around her bed, eyeing the nurse before he quietly barked at him.

”Go put that damned thing away and bring back some scrubs for the both of us, hm?”

He normally had no problem being in the nude and he certainly had no issue with Alice being that way either but given that his Father was coming, he wanted to be clothed and her as well. All those thoughts fled for the moment however as he reached her side and leant over, cupping her face between his hands he kissed her with a heated passion not quite unlike the rage that had found him on the boat.

”I love you, too.”

He whispered against her lips. A hand dropping in search of hers, only to find she couldn’t move it, it was bound to her side. Part of him was angry but he knew why and he knew it was his fault.

”I’m sorry, baby. I’ll....fix this too.”

*******************

The Queen had overheard discussion of not only her sons return home but all the commotion he was involved in upon his return as well. She also knew that Meredydd would not go easy nor back down from whatever punishment he saw fit. He’d wanted Adamaris home but not like this. This was a slight to him, she knew that was how he saw it and knew he’d not listen to any sort of reasoning otherwise. At least not any sort of reasoning from their wayward boy. Her husband and son, both stubborn and bullheaded.

She slipped from the Palace as the King began preparations to “storm the hospital”. She needed just a bit of time to hear Adamaris’ side of the story before she could defend him against his father or agree with Meredydd, depending on what the story was.

She marched gracefully through the halls of the hospital. Her green eyes spying Caerulia coming from a room, looking flustered, as she approached. Just outside the door, Cae embraced her mother a moment before she explained what had happened, from the time Adamaris first arrived until his latest revelation.

With a nod and a deep breath, she entered the room, her hands fidgeting at her stomach. She was quiet a moment as she watched him, leaning on the edge of the young girls bed and slightly over Alice, as the pair of them spoke quietly between themselves.

With a soft clear of her throat, Ianassa spoke.

”Adamaris.”

His shoulders tensed and then fell, twisting to turn and glance over his shoulder. A moment later, he turned back and kissed Alice lightly before standing.

”Mom....”

He muttered as he wrapped her up in a hug, a mild look of confusion as he peered at Cae just behind the elder woman. He was expecting their father not their mother. Not that he would complain, he loved his mother dearly and had missed her, the only thing or person he truly truly missed during his years topside.

”Can we unbind her, please? None of this is her fault.”

He begged softly as he stepped back, taking the scrubs from the nurse as he excused his entry into the familial reunion to deliver what Jareth had asked for.
 
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