"When She Ate the Peach."

By Shahrezad1

Summary: "She has no double-edges, but is sheer simplicity, opportunity and creativity wrapped up in a wedding gown of stars. And she has been looking for him."

Disclaimer: Yeah, no. Nada. Zilp. Zitch. I don't own nuthin. Except my new Labby DVD (to replace the old), CD, postcards, notebook, 14" figure…hmm. Not making a good case for myself, am I? Well, I don't own anything of worth (like rights to the movie). Fin.

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The crystal within his hand grew heavy as his mismatched eyes continued to stare, to watch, to guard what was his. The child, the Toby, had settled within the cloth circle of his arms as though it was a home he had always known. And within the orb Jareth, the Goblin King, watched and peered as his so-called loyal servant finally gave her the peach after much incentive, the girl accepting.

He had been strangely resistant, even loyal to the girl that was like so many other girls. Immature, materialistic, and lost in her own dreams and selfish desires. Yet three of his country's denizens had attached themselves to his side, two whole-heartedly. And then there was Hogswain…

…the dwarf would require looking into. But for once he was doing what was right.

Moving to the quiet of his quarters, Jareth ea Lun D'Cleaur J'xiou watched as the bespelled fruit lay rich and poisonous within the maiden's delicate palm, a feeling akin pieces of his soul ripping apart, as magic from the Labyrinth was harnessed, controlled, and spun into a pointed spinning wheel of timeless sleep. His crystals were an outlet for sight and an outlet for his power, and they danced across his fingers like spiders' webs and morning dew as they were created for her, then released. Delicate and airy as a baby's laugh, and reflecting nothing but joy.

He had seen many dreams before. Orbs wrapped in snowflakes and frost, or fiery with dark choices. The deaf wished for the elation of music, the blind a rainbow of color. All received their desire for joy, and all ultimately lost the test and the goal, forgetting forever of brother, a sister, a child.

But unlike other times and other 'Questers', as her teeth sunk deeply into her dreams, the King of the Underground felt his eyes begin to lower in reaction, then fully close, torso propped up in the windowsill. But only for a moment, he promised to himself.

Only for a moment…

It's a desire many feel. Respect, to have a voice that's heard in the world. To be seen as an adult; to love and be loved in return. But many ask for it unworthily; egoistically and the self-righteous feeling of deserving.

'Me, me, me' the World seems to say over the din of a riotous ball, color distracting and servants golden as statues floating from crowd to crowd, goblets of liquid rich and dark in their hands. Insincerity flows like the waterfalls and fountains glinting just off her peripheral, and while he can clearly see her desire to be included and her curiosity, she is also repelled by this skewed view of life; of love.

She is alone, alone in the false emotions of the Fae. Searching for something, but what?

Laughing voices cry and mock in languages of darkest white with the knowledge that she doesn't know what she's chosen to become; what she's trying to do and trying to be. She is odd, a rarity among these ladies of eternity as the girl spins in confusion, lost and alone and so very dangerously curious as laughter and drink run freely in the night…or day. Masks hiding faces but revealing the natures of each of them.

There is the Lord of Death over here, courting Spring. Decadence and Impropriety war for control of the room, and she in her innocence is the clashing Hope of Pandora.

There are other women more beautiful than she, Fae with red hair the color of ripe apples and spun, pale moon-silk blonde. Midnight black waves roll over milky white shoulders, constellations glittering within their curled depths, while the girl's locks are nothing more than mousy, human brown, mundane as mud and lackluster at best. Even her gown stands as an unknowing parody of their attire, strung with glass beads rather than dwarven gems in radiant hues, her form encased in a simple pearlescent white.

Yet it is perhaps that difference in color, that startling wide-eyed innocence which sets her apart, the colors surrounding the woman-child's form not tarnished by timelessness and full of newness to the world. She has no double-edges, but is sheer simplicity, opportunity and creativity wrapped up in a wedding gown of stars.

And she has been looking for him.

The thought ends his observations, and with a slow wave of breaking realization the man comes to a sudden knowledge of just where he is and what has happened. The child has desired him in her wants. Not any man, or any simple love, but the Goblin Lord himself, resplendent in her imagination's worth of azure fabric and gems.

No hole gapes at the neck for skin, but rather an elaborate cravat complete with starburst stick pin sits at a pale throat, and rather than foppish in design the King finds himself almost admiring for their ability—he is stately, regal of leg and a focal point amid the tarnished golds and gaudy reds and greens. A mask guards his visage for but a moment, skeletal features counterpointed by horns as wicked as they appear to be; she knows what he is, she knows what he can do, but still finds him a gentleman. She is searching for him in specific.

And so they dance.

She has pulled him into her dreams, the woman-child Sarah. Her heart is as open and clear to read as a book, has pulled him into her dreams, her feminine desire for love and care in the wake of her loss.

But the dream is still just a dream; no more and no less. And as the clock strikes the moment of 11, Jareth finds himself unable to bite back a vindictive smile.

But as she leaves him, breaks away to defeat his triumph, he is shocked by it. More by the sudden loss he feels within himself than the action itself. 'What?' the King of Night thinks in shock, dressed in royal blue brocade. Why is he suddenly bereft, features ask as they fall, no longer lordly, then are concealed with a blank mask. All he can see is her glowing form moving away, then before life can stop and think, it's crashing to pieces, raining down from above.

And she is gone. Gone from his arms, from the circle of his powers. The pain is almost worse than losing his own arm, as time cuts short and glass cuts shorter…

With him returning from his dream--her dream--back to his regal bed. He had been shifted in his sleep by invisible servants, the thin, decorative blankets surrounding him tangled and clammy with sweat, all glitter and care having disappeared in a blink of an eye as he fell asleep in his lonely room, fire gone cold. The echo of the room was strangely pointed, even accusatory, as though the Labyrinth itself has him under her stern gaze, with the silence contrasting its ability to deafen when compared next to the noise and chaos of her soul. So it is the throne room that he retreated to in an effort to forget what it felt like with sunshine in his arms, curling petals of mahogany teasing his fingertips even as his fingers rested full on her supple waist.

A perpetual mess surrounds the King of Nightmares as the child looks around in full peace for his surroundings. But the ruler is edgy; anxious now. The Goblin King is no longer a Knight of Glory, but merely a cursed King of the wretched. Of lost children and buried hopes, creativity and imagination twisted into foul discontent and sorrow. Pulled into the dreams of the girl he had hoped to trap; pulled in by the magic she had garnered herself from his lands and his soul.

He hadn't known he'd loved her until she carried him into his own trap, dreaming what she desired most.

To be an adult at the tender age of fourteen seasons. And him, of all men, in full perfection. The trap had been set for an innocent, and the one who was caught was him.

How wretched he was.

Putting up a front of composure as he discreetly checked the stinking, unintelligent masses to see if anyone had noticed him in his distraction, compelled by his own crystalline spell. None had, apparently, and so his attention returned to the boy, placing the child in his lap. Less than fifteen minutes left. He could hold his peace for fifteen measly minutes.

The head of guard abruptly came, destroying the silence.

"Your highness, the girl…"

"What?"

"The girl who ate the peach…who forgot everything…"

Jareth King of all he surveyed, closed his eyes distinctly and took a deadened breath. Clenching his jaw against internal signs of weakness. No, no, he would not be sucked into her play; her witchery. He was the Captain of his-self, and no innocent magics or childish love spells would change him, no matter the desires of her dreams.

"What of her?" he asked with a bland, tight smile.

No matter if his desires matched hers.

"She's here with the monster, Sir Didymus and the dwarf, who work for you."

"What?!"

Not ever.

"They got through the gates, and they're on their way to the castle!"

"Stop her! Call out the guards! Take the Baby and hide it."

He would not bow down.

"She must be stopped!"

Never. As long as he remained the master of his realm.

I can't live within you…

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AN: Came to me while I was typing up some more pages for Masks, with Tin Man and The Labyrinth playing in the background. My original, full-screen version was stolen a long while ago. This new one is widescreen, which I normally despise, but there's so much detail going on in the background scenes of the ballroom scene and the battle for the Goblin City that you really can't help but feel inspired to write.

Sorry if this came out choppy and strange-sounding. I wrote it when I was falling asleep with my hands on the keyboard. I hope it's okay, especially for a fun, short little, "what if," one-shot.

Namely, right after Sarah dreams and gets released, the captain of the Guard informs the GK that she's in the city and the way Jareth says, "What of her? is really interesting, in this context. Also, the devastation in Jareth's eyes as she pulls away in the ballroom scene makes me think that yes, he may have been using her and distracting her, but maybe a part of him didn't want to see her go, because he seems definitely at a loss.

Anyway…ciao.