Maybe It's Not Too Late After All

The Count

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Okay... First of all, I'm sorry that I've only just read this now, was previously engaged and immersed in rereading KG in its entirety.
Secondly, :excited: for the characters you pulled into this chapter.

Reference to the mindmelter chair from Farscape Season 2, that gets you points.
Are the doors meant to be parallels to the entrances inside the T. Matt Fraggle Room?
Mizumi's trick with the air cube was neat... It reminded me of Kermit's magic finger bit from back in the day... And I know what she's talking about with drawing a transparent cubelike outline. And of course, as soon as she says it...
They're now outside of the trap itself.

Taminella's cough makes me chuckle a bit, that's the old reaction to the smoke effect as part of a mystical entrance.

Thank you for this, it brightened up my day.
Happy Easter weekend.
 

RedPiggy

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I wanted to imply Matt's Room was a part of it, but it's not all of it, LOL. Have you ever heard of Jim Henson's The Cube? There's a guy stuck in a cube and lots of weird characters can enter and exit, but he's just kinda stuck. It's a psychologically fascinating story that has been made into stage plays as well, sometimes without even the Cube itself, making the main character's predicament even more bizarre. Anyway, the random doors are a feature of the Cube.

And while The Cube isn't transparent (though, like I said, certain play versions would be), from certain angles in the version Jim did, you could almost imagine an issue with perspective ... and perspective is something Mizumi can grasp, since her attack on the Labyrinth involves cheating.
 

The Count

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I've heard of Jim's Cube and read about it at the Wiki... But I've never seen/watched it. And whenever "The Cube" is brought up as a fictional presentation referenced in anything I always (and sorry for this) mentally seize upon the SciFi movie where six people of different backgrounds were trapped inside a room that kept shifting throughout the other rooms and traps of a giant 26x26x26 cubic construct.
And yes, Mizumi definitely cheats... She's stuck waiting thirteen years for Jareth to win their wager... Like Heck she'll wait any longer to take what she thinks is and ought to be hers. Besides, water is always changing, so that gives her elemental magic the edge to always evolve. It reminds me of a line from Half-Blood Prince where Snape as DADA professor refers lovingly to the dark arts as a multi-headed hydra, always changing and finding new ways to attack, more cunning and cleverer than the last.

Happy Easter Kells, hope to read more soon.
 

RedPiggy

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Chapter 10
(201PK)

Zhaan coughed as the dust finally began to settle. She was weary from the lack of light. How long had it been since she had seen the sun?

She didn’t know.

The little lavender Fraggle, Mokey, sniffled as she sat up on the opposite side of the small, dark cave. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. “I don’t think it worked,” she noted sadly.

Zhaan rested against the wall of the cave. It was cold, though only Mokey’s breath formed little clouds of fog in the air. Zhaan sighed. “It must succeed, dear one, or we shall not grasp the true meaning of Unity.”

“But I’ve never met you!” Mokey protested with a sudden burst of passion. “We look nothing alike and we come from different worlds and there isn’t any way at all that our hearts can be one!”

Zhaan stood, frowning. Her voice was noticeably frustrated. “How the frell am I supposed to understand this place?” she growled. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever --.”

It was a bad trade, Zhaan: you for me.

Zhaan perked up as the soft voice carried through the air. It was Captain Sun’s voice, but what did it mean? It was so distant, so strange. She felt a perplexing mix of joy and sorrow with that one sentence.

Mokey’s gasp broke her out of her thoughts.

A thin, gaunt male stood before them in the cave. He had matted honey-blond hair that stretched beyond his shoulders. His facial features were highly angular, as though his skull would protrude at any moment with just the slightest of touches. He wore a tattered brown robe. Sighing, he sat down and stared at the cave floor.

Zhaan and Mokey glanced at each other. Zhaan was the first to speak. “What is your name?”

He didn’t respond.

“You’re him, aren’t you?” Mokey asked timidly as she approached him. “You’re the Prime Emperor.”

He looked away, burying his chin in his arms as they rested on his bent knees. “Am I?” he asked sullenly.

“The Prime Empress is desperate to find you,” Zhaan blurted out.

“People say it so often,” he noted with a tinge of bitterness. “One wonders why she should bother at all.”

“She loves you,” Mokey offered, gently placing her hand on his knees.

Jareth scoffed. Shaking his head, he replied, “She had dreams of me. There is naught now but an unending nightmare.” He nodded toward the cave exit. “Leave this place. It’s almost completely dead now.” He paused for several moments. “Life without a heartbeat. It is assured the world shall fall down.”

Zhaan kneeled before him, refusing to accept his defeatist attitude. “We must find Mizumi. She seems to know what to do.”

Jareth shook his head. “She’s close,” he replied, “but the fact remains that no matter how close she is, she will never succeed. It is like chasing a rainbow: even if you catch it, you cannot hold it.”

Zhaan stood up, looking at the exit with renewed determination. “We shall contact the Goddess. The Goddess shall provide.”

Jareth chuckled sarcastically. “She’s done so much already….”

Zhaan and Mokey left Jareth sulking in the small cave where the pictures on the walls had suggested they might be able to travel through time. There had been many paintings: most of them had been stick figures of various types of creatures, but then curious objects started to appear, like advanced machines tearing down whole forests. One was a large colored sketch of a green reptile wearing a red jacket, holding a small pink chubby creature with sparkling purple eyes.

But what made Zhaan and Mokey gawk, however, was the one that showed the Prime Empress in a furious pose, her arms raised while a huge downpour threatened to drown both the human-like stick figures and the strange reptiles alike.

However, when they reappeared before the paintings, the one of Mizumi had disappeared.

Zhaan caressed the bare rock face as she tried to imagine what the image had shown. There was something … different … about this place, just as Mokey had said. It was arbitrary and dangerous and puzzling … but it was also peaceful and solemn. Jareth said it was dying, but she felt a strange calmness in they emptiness.

Help!” Mokey shrieked as she grasped desperately at weeds, gravity forcing her down a hole in the cave floor.

Zhaan grabbed her, but they both fell as the ground gave way completely.

This place … these caves … they speak to me.”

Zhaan gasped, recognizing her own voice in the whisper floating through the air.

Jareth suddenly helped the two up. All around them were tunnels, each black with only a flickering of different-colored lights. They seemed completely innumerable to imagine.

Zhaan grabbed Jareth’s robe, her face set in an expression of taut fury. “What is the meaning of this? Where is this place? What kind of cave taunts us with the voices of far away?”

Jareth firmly grabbed her arm and shoved her away. His voice was just as strong as hers: “Can you hear them, Priestess? Can you hear the dying screams of the world’s heart?” He drew back his hand and slapped her face so hard she stumbled backward, making Mokey cower behind a rock pillar. He watched as Zhaan grabbed a small blue-tinged spherical crystal from the ground underneath her. He snorted and turned from her. “You must carry the light with you,” he noted sadly before disappearing in the harsh blanket of black darkness.

Mokey dashed to Zhaan after Jareth disappeared. To her, he was a villainous monster, worse than any Peacekeeper. He reminded her of the ones who destroyed her family’s burrow in the southern swamps, the resulting pollution poisoning amphibians, birds, and reptiles. She had watched as her parents were helping a similarly-sized green frog move a small log out of the path of an alligator, when giant flying machines dropped large objects that created dark gray clouds when they hit the water. Somehow, she had survived, while the others … well, they didn’t make it. She swam desperately out of the swamp, travelling far to the north, where eventually the Peacekeepers found her and enslaved her. The crystal around her neck had been a reward for faithful service to some old Peacekeeper who died several days later. He had been transporting a shipment of enslaved Hynerians to the planet Thra, as they were currently experiencing a shortage of game for hunting. A particularly wily one offered it as a bribe to avoid enslavement, but the frail Empress of Thra enjoyed him so much that she kept him on as a slave anyway, protecting him from the inevitable hunt.

At any rate, she rubbed some moss on Zhaan’s head, which was starting to blister from tears as the jagged rocks had grazed her skin.

Zhaan, nearly to tears, jerked up and dashed toward the closest tunnel. She ended up in a large white room as a shocked Mizumi and General Red looked on.

Mizumi approached her angrily. “What did you do?”

Zhaan kneeled before her. “Jareth --.”

Mizumi grabbed Zhaan, who actually began to pale.

“How come everyone’s so frelling happy but me?” demanded General Red.

Zhaan glanced at the little Fraggle warrior quizzically before staring straight into Mizumi’s eyes.

Mizumi smirked. “It’s useless. You’re projected.”

“I am not,” Zhaan angrily protested, before the image disappeared and she stood once again in the dark caves, her voice now subdued, “projected.”

Mokey approached the Priestess. Zhaan smiled, trying to calm the nervous little Fraggle, holding the blue spherical crystal in her hand. “This will make a nice addition to my brooch,” she said.

Mokey nodded. “What did you find?” she asked.

Zhaan sighed sadly, bending down to caress Mokey’s hair. “A projection.” She stood and looked around and called out, “When single shines the triple sun, what was sundered and undone, shall be whole … the two made one.”

A long, slow clapping met her strange announcement. Jareth revealed himself from the shadows. He had a smirk on his face, which almost seemed to crack his gaunt visage from lack of use. There also seemed to be a glint in his otherwise dull eyes.

“That was so pretty,” Mokey offered to Zhaan. “Can you teach me to do that?”

Zhaan stared at Jareth, her gaze trying to crash through his “projection”. “So, that’s it, is it?” she asked him. “The reason the cave gave no answers --.”

Jareth nodded and concluded her sentence, “—is that you were part of it, but not all of it. The question easily becomes, ‘How do you complete the picture?’ Perhaps no one knows. I’ve been looking, from one end of the galaxy to the other, and I have yet to find the one thing that can shatter this nightmare.”

Zhaan closed her eyes and thought of that dark-skinned female human with the sea-green hair. “The Goddess shall provide.”

Jareth laughed. “You think a mere self-absorbed woman a goddess?”

Zhaan mirrored his laugh as the cave started to crumble around them. “You will find happiness when you achieve Unity with the Goddess.”

Jareth shook his head and disappeared back into the shadows. “Never in a million years,” his voice replied.

Zhaan opened her eyes again. Mizumi had fainted next to Eshe, who was whimpering. Zhaan kneeled at her side and caressed her hair, though she gasped when a concerned Mokey appeared by her side. How could this Fraggle be here? She didn’t join their party. Had something happened here? Had Mokey been drawn to this place, as they were? Clearly she hadn’t met the Fraggle in that strange cave or that cube-shaped room. Perhaps she might never truly know.

Eshe grabbed Zhaan’s hand. “Re … store … the … true … purpose of … the … Seek,” she coughed. “Re … turn … what … has been … thrown a … way.” She touched the small blue crystal in Zhaan’s brooch. “What has been … thrown … away,” she repeated, her eyes rolling back. “What has … Jareth … thrown … away? Who has … thrown … him … a --.” Eshe’s breathing stopped. Her head rolled to the side, her body completely relaxed.

Mizumi sat up, cringing, holding her head as she suffered a migraine. She kept her eyes clenched shut.

“We must find the remaining third,” Zhaan explained to Mizumi. “Only then can --.”

“Never,” Mizumi grumbled as she stood, wobbling. She glared at Zhaan, her fists clenching tightly. “I know where Jareth is, and you will never get him!”

“Mizumi, my Prime Empress!” protested Zhaan.

“I shall never let you take him!” Mizumi screamed in fury, her face reddening, her long white hair billowing behind her as clouds of mist rose from the ground. “I will watch the world die before she touches his hand!

The mist swirled around the Prime Empress.

And she was gone, determined to hunt down the only one who could stir her heart.
 

The Count

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Heh... A good chapter... Especially when you're versed enough to understand the enigmatic mystic-talk that answers itself only with more questions to the ones you had before.
Interesting to note how it doubles back on itself to add/rewrite what happened before like the end scene with Mokey at Zhaan's elbow as Esh died.
Even though she's flown off in a rage, I kind have a bit of pity for Mizumi cause she's always going off in a tangent without any calm/normal happiness. But that's part of being a water elemental master mage as she is I guess.

Thanks and luck be with ye.
 

RedPiggy

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The Count said:
Interesting to note how it doubles back on itself to add/rewrite what happened before like the end scene with Mokey at Zhaan's elbow as Esh died.
Well, the original idea (more or less, as I admit I kinda winged it) was that there seemed to be, despite the loss of the access to the Underground, a spot here or there in the world where you might still access magics fed by "the lovers, and dreamers, and you". However, Mizumi in ch 9 and again in ch 10 figures out that it's an illusion brought on by the Unity with Eshe (note how much more powerful Mizumi's magic is and how what seemed to be Fraggle Rock once again could connect to different worlds and how spiritual Zhaan's gotten all of a sudden and finally how Jareth's mood seems to have improved). What happened to Mizumi after she met Taminella will be dealt with later, though clearly she's come to the same conclusion Zhaan did, which was they are looking for someone Mizumi CLEARLY doesn't want to look for, LOL.

WhiteRabbit said:
I also love the way you enable the reader to envision everything very well. That takes some imagination! Kudos to you, amigo!
Thanks! I like doing lots of research for this particular fanfic universe (okay, really it's an alternate universe of my usual fic universe, does that make sense?).
 

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Chapter 11
(201PK)

Captain Sun observed the Peacekeeper mining corps preparing large plasma drills next to a small hill near the beach, her hands tightly clasped behind her back, which was rigid with anticipation … and worry. The order to drill had come much sooner than she had expected. She also hadn’t expected the World’s Oldest Fraggle to suggest the initial entry point. She had expected a protest of some sort, as though her heart told her she was desecrating a sacred space, but the World’s Oldest dismissed what he called “silly fiddle-faddle”, stating instead that it would be good to feel the rock next to his fur again.

The image of Scorpius appeared from behind, turning over a large floppy brown hat in his hands. He placed it on his head to shield his eyes from the bright sun. Nodding with approval, he elbowed her. “I personally feel you picked a lovely spot.”

Sun sneered. “Glad you approve.”

“Scorpius” nodded. “Of course you are, Captain Sun. You have very little choice in the matter.”

Sun turned toward him. “When will Scorpius be here?”

The illusion shrugged, a strange and creepy smile cracking his chafing pale cheeks. “Time flies when you’re having fun. Don’t you agree?”

Sun started down some scaffolding to observe the work more closely, but the image of Scorpius appeared from behind a large metallic crate, a look of deep concern on his black leather-clad face.

“Shaaaaame on you, Captain Sun,” he told her, combing his hand through her hair. “Now … we’re all in this together. We don’t want the bad guys to win.” He chuckled and turned from her, shrugging. “We have to do this … for the species, for the galaxy, for the … future.”

Sun stopped walking, firmly taking his hand away from her head. She glared at him. “The Scarrans have been chasing the Peacekeepers through the galaxy. What makes you think a few little gems are going to stop them?”

“Scorpius” chuckled, shaking his head. “I shall re-order time. I shall turn the world upside down … and I shall do it to watch the Scarrans burn.” He grabbed her face and forced her to turn her head to the right, where a Sebacean woman was being attacked by a large Scarran, which was like a reptilian humanoid that wore heavy black armor. The corps didn’t seem to notice as the Sebacean woman screamed under scaly hands. “Do you see that? An unpleasant origin story, don’t you think?” He forced her head to the left, where a young disfigured boy sharing some of Scorpius’ facial features cowered under red heat lamps, trembling and vomiting until his body was too exhausted to do either. “A lifetime of being reminded, again and again, the feeling of being prey.” He brought her face to within a hair’s breadth of his. His gaze could have vaporized her at any moment had he the power. He whispered angrily, almost hissing and spitting, “Bigger may eat smaller in this cruel, unpredictable universe, but I promise … promise you, Captain Sun … I shall chew my way out of their stomachs and watch them bleed.”

<><><>

Deep within Seashore City, meanwhile, the human female, in her early thirties, grunted as she carried several large packages on her back. She stumbled just as she reached the museum’s threshold, spilling the contents. There were assorted pieces of jewelry, now-broken pottery, and paint brushes. The female started to cry uncontrollably as she tried to put all the objects back in the packages. Her parents had sold her to the Peacekeepers. In return for their cooperation, they were able to move to a larger city across the ocean, where drudgery was less visible. Fortunately, in her teens, she was bought by a kind old lady who wore a tattered purple dress and a necklace on which hung a strange tarnished curved object with a spherical design in the center, as though it was a bird flapping its wings down. She never admitted where she got the object, but the kind old lady, a Traskan, tended to collect objects of a romantic nature, so possibly it was a … present … from an old boyfriend … a boyfriend she must have parted ways with in bitterness, as you could tell there was a centerpiece that had been broken off just underneath the spherical design in the center.

A tender aged hand touched her shoulder. The voice was female and well-worn from many hundreds of cycles of use. “Child,” she cooed softly, “let me help.” She stood the human female up, who was a head taller than the elder woman, who had soft gray curls and a glowing purple third eye in the middle of her forehead. The elder woman brushed away the younger’s tears with her left hand and placed a small gemstone in the woman’s hands with her right.

The woman looked down, sniffling, and saw a glistening translucent yellow-green jewel.

The elder woman giggled. “It’s called, I believe, a trilling stone.”

“Chrysoberyl,” the woman noted softly in a whisper.

The elder woman shrugged. “In any case, dear Sarah, an intriguing feature of this stone is that it often twins itself. Some even resemble small flowers. Another peculiar feature, especially in this one, is that it also changes color, all depending on the type of light that illuminates it.” She patted the younger female on the cheek. “Keep it with you, young Sarah, to remind you that the truth can seem to be so many different things, in the right light.”

After several hours, as the museum was about to open for the small amount of time workers had to spend in leisure, Sarah watched as a giant mechanism twisted and turned in a large room. It was a mechanical model of the solar system, with the sun and planets rotating and revolving in a beautiful ballet.

A creepy male voice, frightening yet also enchanting, broke her out of her thoughts. “I’m looking for the crystal exhibit,” it said.

Sarah turned around and gasped. The male had a tortured, almost skeletal face, hidden in a black leather mask. He wore a thick suit covered in a black leather overcoat. His eyes were metallic silver-blue. She backed away, stuttering. “Th … there … there … i-is … no … there is no crystal exhibit … s-sir.”

The male smirked, placing his hands gently behind his back and looking at the ground. “You have a crystal in your hand,” he noted.

Sarah looked down. “It’s … it’s just a small gemstone,” she told him, unable to bear looking at him. “It’s nothing. We don’t have a crystal exhibit. Why would we?”

The male nodded, continuing to avoid her gaze in an attempt to ease her mind. “Indeed. Why would you? I had heard mention of a certain crystal, called a Ditzy. This museum, I’m told, tries to represent the history of the entire solar system. Most Peacekeepers have little use for the study of history.” He finally looked at her with as warm an expression as he could muster. He stopped just within arm’s length of her. “I, on the other hand, quite enjoy learning about all the universe has to offer.”

Sarah blushed and backed away to her left. Maybe it was the smell of the leather, or the corpse-like visage of the male, but he made her uncomfortable, no matter how nice he seemed to be. “The … the Fraggles,” she spat out, her heart racing, “have a legend.”

“Do they?” he asked with genuine interest, combined with a hint of bemusement.

Sarah nodded. Her white silky blouse contrasted with the thick black slacks common to Peacekeeper uniforms. She brushed her shoulder-length hair away from her face. “They have no real timeline, as they were subterranean early in their history and could not determine anything but general seasons. However, long ago, they say, before Fraggles came into existence, a giant crystal crumbled deep in the heart of their world, covering a cave in tons of debris. Crystal dust clouds spread throughout the caverns. However, at some point they seem to be unclear about, these crystals, these ‘Ditzies’, as they called them, started to recede back into the original cavern. The crystals had given all subterranean lifeforms light and warmth, but as they receded, the caves grew dark and cold. Because of this, they had no choice but to burrow to the surface, where they have lived with other non-humans ever since.”

The male nodded and walked calmly behind the mechanical solar system model as it twisted and turned. “I see. I think I should like to see such crystals.”

“They could be metras under the ground!” she protested.

The male laughed. “Then I suppose I should get started,” he replied as he turned to leave. However, he suddenly stopped, his boots squeaking slightly on the floor. “Follow me,” he ordered curtly.

Sarah’s heart raced. She held the gem close to her heart.

The truth might be so many different things, depending on the light.

<><><>

Back on the hill, Captain Sun’s eyes widened as the drills finally broke through, revealing a large tunnel that seemed to stretch far beyond the actual girth of the hill itself.

An optical illusion, no doubt, she thought.

She gasped as a hand grabbed her shoulder. Whipping around, she scoffed and rolled her eyes when she saw the image of Scorpius. “I told you I would inform Scorpius the moment we find something of interest,” she growled.

There was screaming as water burst from the tunnel, quickly icing over in sharp spikes, impaling several workers. The tunnel had somehow been blocked off.

He smiled, his toothy grin turning Sun pale as the ice forming all around as she realized the reality of the one in front of her. “My dear,” he noted softly, clasping one hand on the terrified female brunette behind him, “consider myself interested.”
 

The Count

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*Bump for the newness of forum reformatting... More please?
 

RedPiggy

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I take it all my thread subscriptions were lost, 'cause I never received a notification my stories were getting replied to, LOL. Between getting the new job and painting the laundry room, kinda got sidetracked, but there will be more, I promise.
 

The Count

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Good, we can wait patiently.

Yeah... Slackbot said that all you had to do was click a link called "Watch Thread" and you'd be plugged in to that thread and subsequent notifications... Though frankly, I have my doubts about that because there are fic threads that are already marked within my "Watched Threads", with an "Unwatch Thread" link showing up, and still I had to post to be notified; and then there are others that I'm getting notifications for like your other tale, The Worst Time of the Year. Dunno, this new forum's gonna take some getting used to.
 
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