Disclaimer: The characters and settings in this story are the property of Jim Henson and are only used for fan related purposes. The dialogue borrowed from the movie is only used to further the story.

Checkmate

Wooing the mortal Sarah Williams was like an infernal game of chess. He had to plot each move precisely, calculating his odds and anticipating each of her steps in order to foil her or help her, depending on his mood. Sometimes he would take just a little of his own back, a childhood memory here, a fantastical dream there, but never enough to be considered cheating. Then again, on a whim, he would then purposely place his pawns in peril if only to see her advance in the game.

It was always all about the game.

Jareth wasn't a very patient player. He'd discovered her skill—her will—at such an early age, when she was little more than a girl, playing with her dolls and her costumes. She wasn't ready for such games as his, and he resigned himself to waiting. He would use his crystals, he would take the form of a brilliant snowy white owl, and he would wait. Reordering time was a snap for someone like him, but there were limits to what he could do and he couldn't make time go any faster (well, he could, but only Underground—and he hadn't quite yet figured out how to bend the rules and lure her to his realm).

Then the day came when he no longer wanted to wait, or even had to.

She was fifteen, innocent and lovely. Through the use of her dog-eared copy of that book and the silly little plays she invented, she called to him, twisting her words and twisting his world. Forever a storyteller, she didn't know how close she'd come to being right: The Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl.

In love, intrigue… it was all the same. Interest, that's what it was. She was a kindred spirit, the soul he'd been waiting centuries to be born (always waiting, always). Sarah was a player, a worthy opponent, and he decided at that very moment, just as the baby stated to cry, that he was through with waiting. He set up the game board, he primed his maze, he stationed his goblins and he readied himself for her call. Then, as his first move, he planted the idea, a little seed, and in a fit of childish anger, she said the words.

The right words.

I wish the goblins would come and take you away.

The goblins—Jareth—they all held their breaths, still waiting, forever waiting—

Right now.

Ah. It was time for the game to begin.

The first time Sarah failed the labyrinth, she never even made it inside.

When Jareth, amid a low chuckle and a sense of excitement, faded away, leaving Sarah alone on the dry and dusty hilltop, he returned to his castle to wait and see how the game would begin. He had high hopes for Sarah Williams, and he welcomed her to try her best to beat his maze.

Three hours in, he was still waiting. And he thought that part of the game was over.

Still, he'd grown somewhat attached to the child in that time. The red and white striped jumper made the babe look almost as silly as a goblin, but his eyes… he had Jareth's eyes. Regardless of how the game ended, Jareth decided he was going to keep the child; he looked like a Jareth, too. And, after a few cries when the child first found himself surrounded by hundreds of filthy, smelly, ugly goblins, he wasn't that bad of a little chap. He could see why Sarah was so desperate to get him back.

But where was Sarah?

At first, the Goblin King insisted on letting Sarah get on without any interference. Perhaps he was giving the girl just a little too much credit because, when he finally conjured a crystal to check up on her, he found her still searching the outskirts of the labyrinth.

She never even made it inside. She'd missed the front gate entirely.

Jareth sighed. That would never do.

Handing little Jareth off to a sturdy looking goblin, Jareth snapped his fingers and brought the thirteen-hour clock back into the throne room. With a small rotating gesture of his pointer and middle finger, the hour hand jumped back three spots until it was resting on the big number thirteen once more. Then, with a swish of his hair that was more dramatic than it needed to be, he disappeared only to reappear at the front entrance of the labyrinth.

There was a gnarled old dwarf, with grizzled white hair and a suspicious expression on his weathered, brown face standing out front. He was searching the thorns and the dusty, dry flowers, searching the pale-haired fairs, waving his fairy spray menacingly. He didn't notice it when the king simply appeared, but it certainly noticed it when Jareth called out regally to him.

"You! What's your name?"

The dwarf jumped as if his backside had just been kicked, then whirled around quickly so as not to present the same target again. He paled slightly when he caught sight of the Goblin King standing awe-inspiringly before him and he gulped. "It's Hoggle, your majesty."

Jareth looked down his perfect nose at the dwarf. "Yes, Hoggle. I need you for a very royal appointment."

"Me?" Hoggle squeaked, clutching his spray bottle to his chest like a shield. "I already gots one. I spray the fairies that lurk out front. That's my job."

Jareth waved his hand inconsequently. "Continue with that, if you would. But I have a more important job for you right now, Haggle."

Hoggle had half a mind to correct the Goblin King but, suddenly, his bladder seemed a little too full to be arguing with his majesty. Instead, he just nodded, praying that the king would leave him alone and he could tend to business in the cloudy lake behind him before his nerves made him do something he'd rather not.

"There's a girl coming. Sarah. She's running the labyrinth. Have you seen her?"

Hoggle shook his head. There hadn't been any challengers since that nanny with the weird voice who wished the sticky kid away last week. "Not yet, but what's that mean? She ain't inside?"

"No, Hodgepodge. That's why I'm here."

"I got ya," Hoggle said, standing with his legs crossed together and one stubby, knobby finger rested alongside his big, bulbous nose. "You want me to keep her out?"

"Exactly the opposite."

"What? I mean…" he said quickly, as Jareth quirked one strangely-shaped eyebrow, "I'm sorry, your majesty? I don't understand—"

"You will let her in, Giggly. But don't just go and let Sarah in," Jareth ordered in a soft voice that, knowing the Goblin King, was so much worse than when he was cross. "Ensure she works it out for herself. Do you understand?"

From the way the dwarf's chin was tucked in his chest, his watery eyes drawn to their dirt suddenly instead of meeting the steely gaze of his king, Hoggle's mumble of an answer was indistinct but Jareth knew exactly what it would be. The dwarf wouldn't dare disobey his king. He would do what he had to to make sure Sarah got started on the right path without ever realizing she was being helped. Otherwise, it could be another thirteen hours wasted, the girl wandering around the edge of the maze, lost.

Besides, Jareth though as he left Hoggle alone, what sort of game would it be if the right side, the white side, the light to his dark side never made her first move—

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, excuse me!" He looked up at the slender teen with the dark hair and the trusting eyes and knew at once this was the Sarah girl the king had told him about. "Oh, it's you." Huh, he thought. It made a little more sense now. Jareth was a lucky king, and just a little crueler than Hoggle already thought the Goblin King was.

Jareth was going to make this poor girl play.

Sarah didn't even notice the way Hoggle said that: oh, it's you. She never noticed that the dwarf might be expecting her, she only saw the labyrinth and no way inside. "Can you help me get through this labyrinth?"

Jareth told him to help her but he wasn't to really help her. Besides, there were fairies to spray. And there was another one of the damn buggers. He hefted his spray up high. "57!" he said triumphantly as the little demon dropped to the dirt.

The girl didn't seem to like that at all. She swooped down and scooped the fallen fairy up. Hoggle wasn't surprised when the tricky creature bit Sarah, but she seemed to be. And to think she really thought fairies granted wishes!

As he sprayed another one—"58!"—she actually had the nerve to scold him by crying out at him, "You're horrible!"

"No, I ain't. I'm Hoggle! Who are you?" he asked. This wasn't like any of the other challengers he'd ever met or tried to trick during his time in the labyrinth. She was anxious and earnest but certainly not afraid.

She should've been afraid. None of the other challengers had Jareth already so interested in their run. He actually wanted her inside the maze. What would happen then?

"Sarah."

It's not exactly what he meant, but there was no denying that she was the girl Jareth told him to help. "That's what I thought," he answered knowingly.

It never occurred to her to wonder why the gnarled, little man knew her name, either. And by the time her conversation with Hoggle was over and Sarah Williams had finally stepped foot inside the labyrinth at last—despite Hoggle's half-hearted attempts to talk her out of it—she'd forgotten most of what he'd said at all.

The second time Sarah failed the labyrinth, she couldn't find her way out of the first strait.

Jareth knew every inch of the labyrinth like he knew every crease and every crevice of the dragon-skin gloves that covered his hands. There wasn't much he had to do to make the first twists and turns of his great maze difficult—the fact that those very twists and turns were cleverly concealed in the rocky outer walls usually did the trick. He wondered if perhaps Sarah would see right through them then remembered, for all her allure, she was still a child in her own right and just as shortsighted.

Still, he was a touch disappointed when, after that Haggle-Higgle-whatever dwarf surprisingly performed his role admirably, Sarah found herself inside the labyrinth but never made it any further. She walked continuously up and down the same strait, back and forth, catching the ever-watching eyes of the eye moss, crying bitter, frustrated tears when even beating the wall didn't yield another path. Thirteen hours dwindled to ten then eight then five before exhaustion overwhelmed the girl and Sarah just gave up.

He couldn't have that. And the waiting was certainly getting tiresome.

With another magnanimous wave of his gloved hand, Jareth sent her back to the start, re-ordering time again. Then, while Sarah started over, heading right back to where Hoggle stood positioned a second time as if her feet already knew the direction, Jareth appeared along one particularly craggy section of the wall. Forming a first, he knocked gently.

A little blue worm in a jolly red scarf poked his head out of a near-indiscernible hole in the wall. "'Allo?" he called out before his glance was pulled upward and he saw the smirk of the Goblin King winking at him from up above. "Ah, your majesty," he said, his voice squeaky and high, "it's an honor!"

"Hello," Jareth preened, his mismatched gaze trained on the worm. "I trust I'm not interrupting anything?"

The worm thought of the tea his wife had just taken off the fire but said nothing of it. "Of course not, your majesty."

"Good," purred Jareth. "You see, we have a challenger coming your way and I thought it would be, hm, let's say fair if we gave her a little push in the right direction. I believe one of the labyrinth's openings lies right before your door?"

Even a little worm who lived on the very outskirts of the labyrinth knew better than to question anything the lord of the Underground said, especially when the word "fair" was slipped so easily into the conversation. Besides, who was he to question the will and whims of royalty? He was just a worm after all.

"Aye, your majesty."

"So you'll just nudge her along the right path?"

"As you wish it."

"But, please, let's not tell her about the shortcut to the castle," the Goblin King said, already beginning to fade as Sarah's footsteps could just be heard echoing down the strait, "we wouldn't want to make it too easy for her. Understand?"

The worm nodded his agreement a bit sullenly, frowning only slightly when Jareth had disappeared entirely. While he waited for the latest of the labyrinth's challengers, his tea was getting cold. But when the king commands—

"Well, you ain't lookin' right," the worm said cheerily, not at all surprised. In his opinion, mortals never looked right, but the king told him to tell her… and he did. "It's full of openings, it's just you ain't seein' 'em."

She still wasn't using her eyes as she looked around obliviously. "Where are they?"

"There's one just across there," the worm told her, just like the Goblin King wanted him to, "it's right in front of ya."

And still the pretty mortal girl argued with him. "No, there isn't."

Giving up a bit, he tried to persuade her again to come inside for a cup of tea, maybe meet the missus but Sarah couldn't be swayed. She was a stubborn girl and, for a moment, he thought he might just understand why the king wanted to help this girl get a little further. Not that it really mattered any—she was a pretty one, but she was nearly blind. She might get out of this strait but how much further would she get after that?

Well, it couldn't be said that he didn't do what he was told. Despite her refusal to believe him, he still tried to convince her. "'Course there is! You try walking through it, you'll see what I mean."

"That's just wall!" Sarah argued fervently. "There's no way through."

"Things aren't always what they seem in this place, so you can't take anything for granted."

Finally, it seemed, she run out of ways to argue back. Holding her hands up like an untrained mime, she reached out and patted the wall and, to her surprise, there wasn't any wall there. The worm had to resist the urge to shake his little head at the little sound she made when she discovered he'd been telling the truth, though his cheeks did begin to glow a lovely shade of pale purple when she thanked him so profusely.

And that's when he realized she was inadvertently heading along the path that would lead to the shortcut to the castle beyond the Goblin City.

Hurriedly, he cried out, "Don't go that way!"

Her face peeked back around the edge. "What was that?"

"I said, don't go that way! Never go that way!"

"Oh… thanks!" the girl said again and, obviously believing she could trust him now that it turned out he was right about the opening, she immediately turned to head down the opposite direction.

The worm let out a little sigh of relief. "If she had kept going down that way," he murmured to himself, "she would've gone straight to that castle!" And, he then thought silently, the king would've blamed me for helping her even more than he wanted.

Still, the little, fuzzy blue worm couldn't help but add: Poor thing. He just hoped she ended up getting out of the rest of the labyrinth all right.

The third time Sarah failed the labyrinth, she was just about ripped to shreds by the Cleaners.

Jareth had let his pride and his stubbornness get the better of him. He knew that. Sarah was acting much more confidently than he would've liked, considering how much he'd helped her so far, and it infuriated him the flippant way she spoke to him. Jareth couldn't help himself. He'd conjured a crystal and threw it, setting the cleaners on Sarah and that damn dwarf before disappearing in an angry huff.

The Goblin King reappeared in his throne room, surrounded by the baby, his goblins and too many chickens. He aimed a kick at one small goblin wearing a sieve on his head just to feel better before flopping back into his throne and reaching for his scepter. Some of the closer goblins scurried away when they saw the scepter in case their king took his obvious anger out on their skulls, while Jareth anxiously rapped the end of the scepter against the side of his throne.

The Cleaners were a great contraption. Run by any number of goblins who were currently only a misstep or two away from being dumped headfirst into the bog, the Cleaners, well, cleaned any debris that was left behind in the underground levels of the labyrinth. Sure, they were sharp, and once they got started, the only way to stop them was run them straight into a wall, but Sarah was smart. She could escape them.

Right? It wasn't like, in his haste, he left any of the grids up or anything. If she ran fast enough, and even left the dead weight of that dwarf behind, she could beat the Cleaners. Couldn't she?

Hm…

Jareth was just beginning to regret his rash move when he heard the beginning of her shrill scream—

Just because he re-ordered time, he couldn't stop Sarah from having the same reactions. And, just like last time, when he asked her how she liked his labyrinth, she had the same retort: "It's a piece of cake."

And, just like last time, Jareth couldn't help himself. First, because he was so annoyed at her words again, he called the great clock to him. "Really?" he asked loftily, hiding his anger behind an emotionless façade. "Then how about upping the stakes?"

As his fingers turned, so did the minute hand on the clock. Why should all his re-ordering of time happen where she couldn't see?

"That's not fair!"

"You say that so often," Jareth noted, taking a sweet moment to lean in to her and catch the smallest flash of uncertainty as it danced across her lovely features, "I wonder what your basis for comparison is." But he still wasn't placated. "So the labyrinth's a piece of cake? Let's see how you deal with this little slice."

And just like last time, the crystal was conjured and the Cleaners summoned before he'd thought better of his actions.

Damn it.

"Oh, no, the Cleaners!"

Jareth was pleased to hear the quaver of fear in that craven coward's voice—but far less pleased when his Sarah ran off with Hogwart. Or when the idiot dwarf fell and Sarah stopped to help him to his feet, saving his life while risking her own.

"Cleaners… Bog of Stench… you sure got his attention!" Goggle's voice rang clear through the underground as a dead end left them no choice but to beat in vain against one of the walls in hopes of escaping the Cleaner's whirring blades.

But this time, just as the cleaners were about to reach Sarah and that pea-brain Hoghead, Jareth snapped his fingers. The wall they were pushing against finally gave and the two of them fell. The Cleaners passed them by, and the ladder appeared as an escape back to the outside.

And the Goblin King resolved to keep his temper in check the next time they met.

The fourth time Sarah failed the labyrinth, she very nearly had her head pulled off by the fireys.

He also thought it was a particularly brilliant stroke of genius to let the Fireys have free reign in the dark forest that made up a good part of the middle section of the labyrinth. They were carefree creatures at the outset with a wicked streak and a tendency to throw body parts all around. They were one of his greatest defenses against any challengers who lucked into getting so far, because the members of the Fire Gang didn't really care if you couldn't take your head off or not—they were more than willing to help you try.

Then again, maybe it wasn't so brilliant when Sarah chose the wrong knocker and found herself alone amongst the fiery, furry creatures with their removable limbs and birdlike features. Or when the Goblin King forgot that not even the threat of the Bog was enough to bring the Fireys around from their Chilly Down high…

The lead member of the Fire Gang had its long, slender orange fingers wrapped neatly around Sarah's neck before Jareth knew she'd fallen right into the Fireys' trap. A tall, thin and, most of all strong Firey, he gave a squeeze, Sarah screamed and Jareth chose precisely the right moment to wave his hand. The minutes slipped back, the sand pouring up the wrong way of the hourglass, and Jareth reset Sarah's run through the labyrinth to the very moment when the big, hairy beast Ludo dropped out from under Sarah and left her alone in the Fireys' forest.

And then—

It was like déjà vu: being chased by these strange creatures she knew she'd somehow seen before (and not just in her bedroom), running away from them as they giddily called out to her to remove her head. They'd terrified her more than the bogeyman in her closet had when she was a child, and she ran as if darkness itself was on her tail.

Okay, maybe she shouldn't have grabbed each of their heads and thrown of them as far as she could, but what else could she have done? Theirs came off, hers didn't. Time was still ticking, she'd lost track of how much time she had left in her thirteen hours, but all that really mattered was that she got away in one piece.

The Fire Gang didn't seem to like that at all. And they managed to pull themselves together much quicker than Sarah would've liked.

They called after her:

"Hey, lady! It's against the rules to throw other people's heads."

"You're only allowed to throw your own head."

"Yeah, that's right!"

Sarah, who was very attached to her head and just a little out of breath as she ran—almost like she'd run this same path before—climbed over the tree roots, ducked beneath branches, anything to leave the eerie Fireys behind.

But they were fast.

"Where's the referee?" cried one, already hop, skip and jumping right behind her.

"We'll just take your head off!" suggested another to the other's cheers—and Sarah's dismay.

"Stop her, somebody, stop her!"

"Come back, little lady," wheedled the short, round one who, amazingly, was also managing to keep up with her. Sarah snorted under her breath and tried to run faster.

As she should, considering the next thing she heard was a gleeful voice crying out again, "Hey, yeah, we're gonna throw your head!"

"Hey, you can't quit!" yelled the leader, his fingers itching to wrap themselves around her neck. "The game's not over!"

No, Jareth thought just then as he arranged for the idiot dwarf to lower the length of rope and give Sarah a hand up, the game wasn't anywhere near over.

Not yet.

The fifth and final time Sarah failed the labyrinth, she fell into the Bog of Eternal Stench.

The Goblin King was quite powerful but there were still a few things he couldn't do. And, despite creating the bog when he was in a foul temper during his youth, no matter what spells he tried, he couldn't remove the stink off of anyone stupid or unfortunate enough to stick a toe into the bog.

And he certainly couldn't make Sarah his queen when she smelled like that.

Jareth assumed he could consider it an accident, if anything. How was Sarah to know that, by kissing old-what's-his-name, the two of them would be sent sliding down a chute that would lead them both straight into the festering bog? It was a threat he meant, a threat he intended, but Jareth had always been a little too possessive of his games and his toys for his own good. So what it the dwarf smelled terrible for the rest of his life? But Sarah…

Jareth sighed as he waved his hand and brought the two of them right back to the top of that wall and changed the trajectory of the chute that it didn't go right into the bog—

Sarah's heart was beating double time, her fingers raw from gripping the rope as hard as she had. It was her lifeline, her only hope to get out of that blasted forest with her head attached, and she held on for dear life as Hoggle pulled her up.

Hoggle!

She hadn't expected to see him ever again. After he ditched her when they heard Ludo's heart-wrenching cry—heard it before they saw that the roar belonged to a large, hairy creature with a heart of gold—she thought he'd abandoned her for good, leaving even his precious jewels behind. But there he was.

He was saving her.

The Fireys were still a real threat. As high as she climbed, the Fireys could fly higher, using their ears as wings and making Sarah reaffirm her first impression that they looked like really weird birds. They were trying to bargain with her now. One wanted her head and called back for a saw, even. Another reckoned Sarah could give up an arm, another an ear because, as he pointed out, did Sarah really need two ears?

And then another laughed as he said, "The game's almost over," and Sarah hoped he was right, and that being the winner meant she got to keep herself all in one piece.

Hoggle, it seemed, was thinking along the same lines as Sarah.

"Shoo!" he said to the floating heads. "Go away!"

"Hoggle! You've come to help me!"

Hoggle turned towards Sarah when she inched closer to him. He held up his hands, warding her away almost as frantically as he had to the Fireys. "No. Don't kiss me… don't kiss me!"

But she was too quick for him. Out of a mixture of relief and gratitude, Sarah threw her arms around Hoggle and planted a friendly kiss right on top of his head.

Hoggle never had time to wonder how Jareth knew she would kiss him, and Sarah never had the chance to wonder why a simple kiss made Hoggle scream like that. Or maybe, she realized, it wasn't because of her kiss but because, without them understanding why, the top of the wall

From his recess in his throne room, Jareth had a crystal gripped loosely between his fingertips, watching the image between like humans were glued to television. He saw Sarah, he saw Hoggie, he saw the way her precious lips brushed against the gnarled dwarfs head and he reacted. There was no way he'd let that damn dwarf think he got away with it, but he was careful to make sure that Sarah, at least, landed on top of a perfectly placed Ludo.

Unfortunately, so did Haghead, but that was okay. The game wasn't over yet, and he meant what he said to Hoggle: if she kissed him again before the thirteen hours were finally up, Jareth had no qualms letting the dwarf take a dive in the bog eventually. Just as long as Sarah stayed as sweet-smelling as ever.

Almost, he thought with a predatory smirk as he continued to watch the flickering image in the crystal, of peaches.

It was like a game of chess, he reminded himself as the king took his position to face off against the queen.

Like all game players, he didn't want to lose—but he'd come so far and done so much that Sarah had to win. He could see it now, she was the one. She was fated to be his opponent, regardless of how she fared on her own this time around, but would she want to be if she lost? Would she think favorably of the Goblin King when he stole her brother and sent her away?

No.

But would she think fondly of him if she won, would she remember the rush of the adventure, the lure of the game?

It was just like chess, he knew. Sometimes you had to make sacrifices.

"Give me the child."

"Sarah, beware," Jareth warned, "I have been generous up until now. But I can be cruel."

"Generous?" she asked, a dazed expression on her lovely features. "What have you done that's generous?"

She didn't remember. He was that good at what he did. Reordering time, turning twelve hours into thirteen, adding seconds, subtracting minutes, going back and making her run the labyrinth again and again until she got it right… and she didn't remember anything save one fact: the Goblin King stole her brother and she had to get him back.

Jareth had told himself he would keep his temper in check but he found it almost impossible now that he'd maneuvered Sarah so masterfully and brought her right in front of him. He hadn't had to lend another hand after her dip into the Bog of Stench but that didn't mean his artful manipulation of time, space, rules and, most of all, Sarah was for nothing.

What have you done that's generous?

"Everything! Everything that you wanted, I have done! You asked that the child be taken—I took him. You cowered before—I was frightening. I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?"

Obviously not.

Sarah began as if reciting in a far-off voice, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered… I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City… for my will is as strong as yours… and my king—"

"Stop!" Jareth commanded, holding out his hand. There was no going back for either one of them. Pawns had been lost, moves made and regretted, and still he tried. "Wait. Look, Sarah, look what I'm offering you." With an inaudible pop, a crystal appeared. "Your dreams!"

But the girl, his unwitting opponent for far too many hours, she was undeterred. He couldn't stop her, no matter how much he wanted to. "And my kingdom as great…"

"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want."

"My kingdom as great…" Sarah looked away. "Damn, I can never remember that line!"

Jareth was pleading now. "Just fear me… love me… do as I say, and I will be your slave."

"My kingdom as great… my kingdom as great…" And then, as if the answer had been there all along, she had it. "You have no power over me."

And there was no move left for the king.

Check and mate.

Jareth sighed, knowing this was what he needed to do, knowing this was the move—the sacrifice—he needed to make. Let her think she won. Let her have her victory. He tossed the crystal in the air, and as the world fell down, he thought: Well played, Sarah.

And he resigned himself to waiting again for their next game.

Always waiting.

- stress, 01.02.11