Back finally with a new chapter! Yes, I'm aliiiiiiiiive! Now is Adair? Hmm?

Please read and review. :)

Chapter 30: Waking from the Nightmare

Red and black flashes- bright flickering light, as seen through closed eyelids.

And heat. Lots of heat.

Was he dead? Was this what it felt like to be dead?

No, he thought the feeling of pain would go away if you were dead.

The heat and flickers of light went away and an unknown amount of time passed. Eventually more flickers returned. He heard a voice.

Something warm touched his.. his forehead, yes that's what it was called. A hand, his tired brain told him. That's what he felt.

Something brushed his lips and his cheek.

More blackness, and an unknown amount of time.

He felt a hand on his neck, checking for a pulse.

He heard more voices, but could not make out what they were saying.

He felt more hands- strong hands- lift him, he felt like he was momentarily floating, and then he felt different hands hold him. He thought he smelled a waft of lilac perfume. The hands that held him brought him close and he felt soft lips touch his forehead. The corners of his mouth pulled up in a quirk of a smile and he nuzzled deeper into the soft warmth, a familiar rocking motion quickly lulling him back into unconsciousness.

It was nearly a week before Adair opened his eyes to see Jareth, sprawled in an upholstered armchair, asleep by his bed. It took Adair nearly another hour before he finally managed to sit up, the waves of nausea and dizziness slowing him down.

Once he was upright, he looked around the room, disoriented. Where was he?

He wasn't in his room, he recalled. These were his new quarters. He had had to move into a new room after the fire..

Memory of the past few weeks rushed back at him like a physical blow, causing him to lean precariously on the bed as he took the hit. Instinctively, he put his arm out to steady himself and cried out, barely able to handle the pain as he unintentionally put the weight on his broken arm. Jareth heard him and jerked awake, rushing to the bed to steady him.

"Lay down," he instructed, and overcome with pain and dizziness, Adair was only too willing to comply. He lay gasping for a few moments until the pain subsided.

"Wow," Adair said, looking over his brother's wrinkled and stained clothes. It was apparent he had not bathed or changed clothes in several days. "You look like crap."

Jareth laughed. "It must run in the family," he replied, and gestured to Adair. He handed him a small mirror and Adair's eyes widened at the fading bruises and cuts that were still visible.

"You looked much worse when we found you. We all thought you were dead."

"How long have I been out?" Adair asked. It was light outside now, and he remembered seeing at least one starlit sky as he lay in the woods, so he knew he had been unconscious for at least a day.

"Well, we brought you here to the castle a week ago, but we searched for you for four days before that, so somewhere around eleven days? I don't know when you had crossed back over, so it may be closer to twelve. A troupe of Fierys found you in their forest, found us where we were searching, and led us the rest of the way through the woods to you."

"That long? Wow. Did I go through the Withdrawls again?"

Jareth shook his head.

"No, I think you've been out this long mostly from the blood loss. There was quite a pool on the ground when we found you. We had to send for a doctor to help me do blood transfusions for the first three days you were back."

He reached down into a large leather bag by Adair's nightstand and took out a small jar of white colored pills. He uncorked the top, and shook three out into his hand.

"Here," Jareth said, helping Adair to sit up again. He handed Adair the pills and a glass of water from the nightstand. "No sense in giving the medicine to you intravenously if you're awake to swallow pills now. I'm sure the doctor has been needling you enough."

Adair nodded, and obediently swallowed the pills, washing it down with water, then allowed Jareth to help him lay back again. He noticed the pendant once again in it's rightful place around his brother's neck. He was glad they found it, if nothing else.

"You aren't going to banish me, are you?" He asked his older brother, eyes wide. After as many times as he had disobeyed him, Adair wouldn't blame him for doing so.

Jareth shook his head.

"The Council doesn't know of your little adventure, and I have no intention of telling them, as long as this is the last time you pull such a stunt," Jareth smiled a bit as he sat back in his chair, pulling it closer to the bed. "I think that your broken arm is punishment enough."

Adair grimaced, and Jareth laughed.

"I am sorry about that, by the way." Jareth looked at Adair as he tried to flex his cast arm. "I just acted, I didn't think," he said seriously. "I nearly killed you. I am sorry." Eyes downcast, Adair nodded.

"It's okay, I should have listened to you anyways."

Jareth nodded. "But I can see why you didn't though," he admitted. "Besides, if you hadn't disobeyed me and returned Above, Dawn wouldn't have come back."

Adair's eyes lit up and he struggled to sit up in bed. "She came? She's here?"

Jareth pushed him back down against the pillows. "For now, at least, yes. All three of us have been rotating shifts in here to keep an eye on you. She left a few hours ago to finally go get some sleep. Nicholas is already up in the kitchen, preparing things for today." Adair nodded, then sat quietly for a moment, thinking.

"If Dawn returned, did she bring Heather's remains with her?" he asked softly.

Jareth nodded. "Yes, but before you ask, we haven't tried to reunite the feather with the ashes yet." Adair looked crestfallen. "We wanted to concentrate on finding you first, then making sure you would live, much less be okay. We thought that if there was a chance it would work, you should be there for it."

Adair nodded, clearly a little upset that Heather wouldn't be there to greet him. At least yet, possibly. He brightened a little as he tried to sit up again.

"Can you take me to go see Dawn then?"

Jareth pushed him back down in bed.

"She's only been sleeping about three hours now, but I think she'd be willing to wake up for this." He made two crystals, then blew them out the bedroom door, sending them floating on to Dawn and Nicholas.

Dawn met Nicholas climbing the stairs towards Adair's new room, having also been summoned, and unsure of what they might find, they entered the room together. When she saw that Adair was conscious, Dawn ran across the room and gave him a huge hug, tears brimming her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're awake, Adair. We all thought you were dead."

Adair nodded. "That's what Jareth was just telling me. I'm glad to be back."

Dawn moved aside as Nicholas also hugged Adair, mumbling something about "my boy" as he did.

They all stared at Adair.

"So I'm back, I'm awake. Can we test my theory now?"

Jareth, Nicholas, and Dawn stared at each other.

As he was still a bit unbalanced on his feet, Jareth and Nicholas both helped support Adair as the foursome made their way to Adair's old bedroom.

"Do you really think this is necessary?" Jareth asked him.

"It probably won't matter, but I'd rather not chance it though." Adair said through gritted teeth. He was having a much harder time walking normally then he had thought he would, and every time he leaned slightly towards the left, Jareth jumped to support him, wrenching his broken arm painfully.

They finally arrived at Adair's old bedroom, and Dawn quickly ran forward, shifting the jar of ashes she was carrying to her other arm, to open the door for the three men. They carefully set Adair down on the ruined bed, the only thing left in the room that would really support him, and as one they turned to stare at him.

"What are you all staring- Oh, right, it was my theory, wasn't it?" Adair ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Well, I'm not sure if it will work, but we have to at least try don't we?" He shifted on the bed.

"Dawn, I need you to put Heather's ashes here on the bed- I don't know if we have to do this in the same spot that she- that it happened or not, but I want to try to keep as many things consistent as we can."

Dawn stepped forward and solemnly poured the ashes onto the ruined bed.

"Jareth," Adair looked next at his older brother. "I believe you have the remaining feather?"

Jareth nodded, stepped forward, and placed the feather atop the ashes.

"And, if no one objects…" Adair looked around uncomfortably at the others. "I'd like to be the one to light the feather."

Everyone immediately objected.

"You'll be wasting what little strength you have, lighting it magically.." Jareth protested.

Dawn rounded on Adair next. "If you think I'm going to sit by your bed for another week solid you've got another thing coming. Let Jareth or Nicholas do it.."

Nicholas nodded. "Look Adair, we all understand how important this is for you-"

"No! You don't!" Adair cut them all off mid-sentence, momentarily silencing them. "Look," he continued in a more composed voice, "I am alive because that girl gave her life to save me." He looked at each of them in turn. "I think it is the least I can do, to try and return the favor, if it will bring her back."

Nicholas slowly nodded his agreement, gesturing towards the feather with one hand, and slowly Dawn shook her head yes, tears rimming her eyes even as she did so.

As one, they turned to look at Jareth, who had yet to grand his consent. He met his brother's unyielding gaze for several moments, as if evaluating him.

"You're too weak to create a magic-generated fire on your own," he said stubbornly. He saw Adair open his mouth to disagree and Jareth raised one hand, cutting him off before he could argue.

"I am your King as well as your brother, Adair." He said, pointing a finger sternly at his younger brother. "I said you are too weak because you are too weak." He met his brother's eyes for a few moments longer before a small ghost of a smile lifted the corner of Jareth's mouth.

"So you will simply require some assistance," Jareth said serenely, as he lifted his crescent pendant over his head and held it out on his open palm.

Astonished, Adair merely stared at his brother for a moment before finding his voice.

"Really?" He looked from Jareth to the pendant, still proffered in his open palm, and back again. "You'll really let me use it?"

Jareth met his gaze evenly and extended his palm, as if he were going to shake hands. Grinning, Adair shook his hand, taking the pendant as he did so. He draped it around his neck and held his fingers above the feather, concentrating.

Everyone gasped as the top of the feather suddenly caught fire, and then watched as it seemed to smolder down at an agonizingly slow pace. Everyone held their breath, waiting, as the feather burned down to the last orange ember. The last little wisp of gray smoke pirouetted up from this new, tiny pile of ashes, then everything was still.

Dawn was holding her breath for so long as she stared at the last cooled ember that she thought she might pass out. She finally took a breath.

"How long should this take?" she asked the three men, a note of worry in her voice.

Jareth shook his head. "I shouldn't think very long." He also sounded worried.

Adair nodded. "I would have thought that as soon as the feather was burned and reunited with the remaining ashes it would have worked." He saw the worried look on Dawn's face and quickly added, "we'll give it a few more minutes though."

The four stood, watching the two piles of ashes intently, for several more minutes. Nothing happened.

Adair clasped Dawn's hand in support as they waited several more minutes.

Still, nothing happened. Everyone jumped when Nicholas cleared his throat and looked around at them.

"I hate to voice it out loud," he began miserably, "but it appears as if we may have been wrong." A tear dropped down his cheek to make a dark spot on his shirt.

"No," Adair started feebly, looking around at the others. "No, we.. we just have to wait a little longer." He felt a pressure on his hand and looked at Dawn, her eyes blurry with tears, shaking her head.

"We tried," she said quietly as she looked at Jareth, Adair, and Nicholas each in turn, tears streaming down her face now. "Thank you for trying."

She turned and buried her face in Adair's shoulder, crying where she stood. He sadly wrapped her in his arms, and Jareth and Nicholas both embraced Dawn, their grief shared as one. Jareth had found one of Dawn's hands and squeezed it, trying to offer whatever comfort he could to her. He could think of nothing to say that would ease her heart's burden, so he just stood, rubbing his finger over Dawn's nails as he held her hand while she cried.

The four of them stood for some time, just seeking and finding comfort in each other's presence.

"Thank you," Dawn said sometime later to the three men as she wiped the tears from her eyes with one hand. She smiled weakly at Jareth as she squeezed his hand again, her fingernail digging into his palm slightly.

Without warning, Jareth gasped and jerked upright from his hunched position where he had been holding Dawn. Shock and hesitation showed on his face.

"Jareth?" Dawn asked, then shook his shoulder slightly when he did not answer.

"Jareth, what's wrong?"

He looked around at their faces, unseeing, as thoughts were flying rapidly through his mind. Seeming to make up his mind, his eyes came into focus as he looked at the three faces peering worriedly at him.

"I need that," he said to Adair as he pointed at his pendant, still hanging around his brother's neck. Adair took it off and handed it to him. "I'll be right back," Jareth stammered, then ran out the door.

They could hear his footsteps as he ran down the hallway at what had to be breakneck speed.

"Where do you think he is going?" Adair asked anxiously.

Jareth flew down the hallway, taking turns and corners at speeds that were terribly dangerous. He knew he could break his neck if he slid wrong on the stone floors, but he could not seem to stop himself.

He finally reached the heavy doors to his bedchambers and flung them open, coming to a sliding stop on the furs that dotted the floor in his room. He ran across the room to his bureau, shoved his pendant into the recessed area of the wood and turned it, triggering the locking mechanism.

He yanked open the bottom drawer and picked up the small wooden box that held the precious crystal ball that Sarah had looked into so many years ago. He passed his hand over the box, opening it, then picked up the crystal, tossing it negligently over his shoulder to land on the bed behind him. He turned the empty box upside down, then aggravated, dropped it to the floor when nothing else fell out from within. He searched through the random clutter that had accumulated in the drawer over the years, then abandoned his search in frustration.

He turned, his gaze raking the room quickly. His eyes landed on the small night stand near his bed. He never kept much in there, but..

He ran across the room, rolled across the bed, then gracelessly fell onto the floor as his momentum (and the sliding bedcovers) took him too far. He quickly stood, stepped over the crystal which had fallen also, and pulled open the one small drawer the nightstand had.

With the gentleness one might hold a newborn with, he reached inside the drawer and pulled out what he sought.

A small, copper button that read "Oshkosh."

Dawn, Adair, and Nicholas had apparently pulled themselves together by the time Jareth returned to the room because they were preparing to gather Heather's ashes once again into the glass container they had been previously kept.

"Wait!" Jareth commanded as he ran back into the bedroom, winded. As he clutched at the stitch in his side, he gently placed the button on top of the pile of ash.

The four of them stared at the gray pile, but nothing happened. Jareth sighed heavily, still gasping for air as he held the stitch in his side.

"I'm sorry, Dawn, I thought that would have worked."

"What was it?" Dawn asked, staring at Jareth as if still trying to work out if he'd gone mad or not.

"It was the button from Heather's blue jeans the day it happened," he gasped. "I thought we might have needed to have that also."

Dawn, Adair, and Nicholas stared at Jareth for such a long moment that he finally blurted out "I was reminded of it when Dawn's fingernail bit into my palm a little. The day Heather.. that day I found the button and I clenched it in my hand so hard it did the same thing."

He hung his head again. "I'm sorry Dawn, I really thought that would work."

She stepped forward to give him a hug. "It's okay-" she began, then was cut off by Nicholas's gasp and Adair's hand clutching at her arm.

They turned to face the ruined bed once more, and saw that the button had melted into a glowing orange pile of metal where it lay. As they watched, the pile of ashes seemed to combust, fall in upon itself then grow outward, glowing bright orange from the reawakening embers. Tongues of flame suddenly erupted from the mound, growing several feet tall so quickly that everyone was forced to take a step back. Burning as if someone had fed gasoline to the fire, the fire grew quickly, burning so radiant a white color that everyone was forced to close their eyes momentarily against the light.

"Oh! Look!"

They all opened their eyes again; the flames had died down slightly and from the depth of the fire, a bird-like form was emerging, molded from the flames themselves. Dawn was forcibly reminded of the Fiery creatures they had seen burning in the trees the night that they found Adair; made entirely of fire, but not consumed by it.

As they watched, the fire died away and a brilliantly plumed bird was left standing on the ruined bed, colored with the richest reds, deep golds, and the brightest, purest copper color they had ever seen.

They watched as, with a musical sounding cry, the bird's feathers started to withdraw into it's skin as it grew larger and it's shape started to morph. Within moments, the feathers had completely disappeared, and there was a blond-haired, ash-smudged girl sitting on the bed.

Heather looked around the fire-ruined room, to Adair and her mother staring down at her, to Jareth and Nicholas standing next to them, their mouths all hanging open.

"I did it!" she exclaimed happily.

So what did we think? Did you see that coming or were you surprised? More to come still. ;)