Wow. This is fantastic! :D

It's tilts on a beautiful sadness, and a heart breaking but fulfilling.

If I commented on all of your stories, I would say the same thing: "Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant." I -adore- imaginative retellings of folklore and this is particularly seamless. The characterization is so spot-on in its blue/orange morality, and I loved the little hints of much larger world-building.

Anywho, your writing definitely hits all of my buttons, and I find that to be a lovely thing. Thank you for sharing.

Fantastic !

Cup of coffee. Delicious prose. Yesssssss...The rats as sustenance, the fairy-tale language, just Jareth in general. It's a good morning.
OH MY GOD, THE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HE WEARS, I AM GOING TO DIE ON IT. And Jareth's about to go on an a tangent about his pipe and stops himself, just fucking kill me already. Can we band together and write the greatest Labyrinth fic that ever was and ever will be? I would be so happy.
RAT-MUISC. Is it weird that now I just want to see Jareth hanging out with rats before he goes Barn Owl and eats them all? I had to read a selection of the original Brothers Grimm fairy tales this semester, and this is such a delicious translation of them into a Labyrinth narrator, and I love it.
I also love casually sexual Jareth, like, "Should I get it on with this pubescent girl? Mmmmmmm...Nah."
Is this the first time Jareth thinks to steel children, thanks to Ethel? Either way, it's brilliance.

Recruitment Methods for a Goblin Army: case Study. :)
What a perfectly written story.

I'm astounded at how good this is. I could easily see it in a published collection of original stories. I smiled at Jareth's speech. Even though he never identifies himself, strictly speaking, you can tell from his mannerisms and way of talking that it's him. I've never trusted stories where he's been defanged and declawed. He is, after all, a villain, and I enjoyed you playing up his monstrous aspects here.

I just have to say this is really fantastic. Not only was the writing great (seriously you had me hooked from the start), but the way you were able take this classic poem and turn it into a believable story from a Labyrinth perspective was brilliant. I mean there are so many parallels within the poem and Labyrinth. There's the more obvious mythical being that steals children, wears outrageous clothing, and has a penchant for music - but there's also the description of the pied piper (tall, light hair, no beard, and green and blue eyes) from the poem. And I always found it interesting that he chose to take the children away rather than drown them like the rats. Where he took them is completely up to interpretation.

Sorry for the rambling, but I just love it when people find different literary or even real life subjects that correlate with the Labyrinth.

Excellent story! Love your style of writing. What happened in Hamelin Germany has fascinated me for years, since apparently those children did actually disappear in 1184 without explanation, which give it this extra hint of 'oh-shit'. I love your version of The Pied Piper being a Fae, to me makes more sense then it being a random mythical figure and gave it an extra layer of understanding. And be it our favourite Goblin King ;) A and thumbs up! I very much enjoyed reading this :)

Well, now. What have we here? Perhaps the creepiest, most inhuman Jareth I've ever read? A rat-eating Goblin Owl, wearing a skirt of dead rodents, and probably smelling the worse for it, lamenting the loss of tasty, drowned meat, is a fine, frightening fellow.
Damaged Ethel, who persuades the frightening Piper to spare the children from death, but is afraid to follow where they are bound, is a fine, frightened survivor.
This story reads like poetry and scares like a bump in the night. Bravo.

Breathtaking. I adore this. Perhaps did the children change to goblins?

how horribly beautiful...the story has always held a placed fear in my heart. not for the piper but for the rats.

Lovely! The ways of the fey- why fight it? Indeed. Loved your Ethel. She reminds me of someone who once questioned the fairness of our mighty king's bargains... both of them seemed to get what they wanted, though.

THAT WAS SOOO SWEET!

Wow this is a really well written story! I love how you characterized everyone!