Hello everyone out there! I just my computer back (had a bad part and wouldn't start) and can write again. This is my first shot at a Labyrinth fanfic...here's hoping...
Disclaimer: Yep, don't own it, just like manipulating it. Credit goes to Jim Henson and Co. Kudos.
Yeah...I support the Jareth/Sarah pairing but that's more of an undertone than a focus here, just in case anyone wants to know.
Hope you like it; enjoy!
Sarah repeatedly clunked her head against the tall bedpost, cursing her existence under her breath. How the hell did you let this happen? One minute, you're sitting at home reading a book; the next SOMEBODY (I may never forgive you for this Toby!) comes ambling up…but who could resist that sweet six-year-old grin. Apparently not me. He just had to come running up bubbling with pride from his art project. What older sister could refuse asking to see it?
Who knew Toby had such an aptitude for art? The shape of a dog was actually discernable from the lumps of clay. Of course it certainly was not a dog and he told me directly but why did he have to tell me it was a giant orange furry creature that he didn't remember the name of?
Her head now started to smart from prolonged banging and she rubbed her forehead vigorously in an attempt to dull the pain. Sarah's headache worsened as she played back what had happened next: you had barely recovered from Toby's revelation, immediately fearing the worst, when he proclaimed that his creation needed a name. First he threw out Hoggle and your eyes went wide, then he threw out a garbled version of Didymus and your jaw started to fall open, then he threw out the name Ludo and wasn't content with that one either as you just gawked at him thinking surely he couldn't have seen you actually talking to them. And THEN, though he somehow missed your zombie impression, he joyously announced that his masterpiece was called Jareth.
A flash and puff of glitter later, and there he was.
Sarah cringed again, a result from the combination of her glaring reflection in the mirror with a large red circle left on her forehead and a recollection of her reaction. It just wasn't fair. One man should not be both so glamorous and so dominating at the same time. Of course Toby felt no qualms in talking to the stranger, no matter how strange the stranger may be; he even held up his little model and introduced them, earning Sarah a significant look from the King of the Goblins.
He conjured a toy and of course Toby was thrilled. Sarah had made several attempts to protest but each seemed to die before they could reach the surface.
"Hello Sarah."
It took Sarah a moment to realize that it was not her memory that was speaking to her but the source itself had walked into her room.
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" she snapped.
"Not in my own castle."
Sarah huffed lightly and turned away, refusing to continue on a vein she would likely lose at this rate…well that and the confirmation of her worst fears held her tongue.
How could Toby do this? He was positively delighted to learn that Jareth already knew his sister and immediately asked if Jareth thought she was pretty. Sarah flushed slightly at the memory.
"Are you ill?" the present Jareth asked.
"No, I'm fine," Sarah replied, a little distracted. Jareth, the earlier Jareth, had answered that he admired her very much; she was still trying to cipher the correct conclusions to draw from that one.
And Toby, oh Toby…
"I like you Jareth."
"Why thank you, Toby."
"How did you know my name?"
"Your sister," he replied honestly.
Toby nodded. "Sarah needs a boyfriend, will you be her boyfriend?"
Sarah nearly fainted in mortification, still her brother plowed on, totally oblivious as Jareth grinned slightly…a rather attractive grin but with hint of devilry all the same.
When Jareth didn't respond immediately, trying to catch the eye of Sarah who was determined not to catch his, Toby piped up again: "I wish she'd go with you."
That was all it had taken. Apparently, the wish had been close enough.
"And here I am again," she mumbled under her breath.
"Something wrong, Sarah?" Jareth drawled with a sly grin.
"Nothing, I'm just planning the death of my little brother."
"Oh come now. He's a nice child, concerned for his sister…even for her love life." Jareth's grin broadened as Sarah's cheeks inflamed. He continued on a different note: "You are aware that you are not restricted to your room, correct?"
"I just haven't wanted to leave it yet."
"Come now, Sarah. For two days?"
"I just haven't wanted to leave," she repeated, trying to remember that she was a "mature adult."
"You know, I could easily take your brother again and turn him into a goblin."
"You wouldn't!" Sarah whipped around to face him again.
"You're right, I wouldn't. But it makes for a nice threat, always has. That and the Bog, of course."
Sarah sighed and covered her face with her hands, trialing her fingers down her cheeks. "Look, I'm just trying to get used to all this."
"Sarah, two days? Honestly."
"You're the one who didn't set another thirteen hour time limit."
"I didn't think I would have to." He sighed, acknowledging that this sort of argument was unlikely to make it very far. Jareth rose from his chair. "You will join me for dinner tonight. Should you feel like being rebellious, remember I can transport you from any room in the castle and in whatever state you may be in." Sarah's brows knotted in a frown but he pressed on so as to avoid any complaints and who knew what else: "In the meantime, perhaps you'd like to catch up with a few friends? They are expecting you."
"If you send me to the Fireys I'll—" Sarah was cut-off mid-sentence as she disappeared from the room. Jareth smiled to himself, reminded once more of the spirit he adored in her.
His smiled faded slightly. If only she hadn't finished the labyrinth. She should have given up, then everything would have fallen perfectly into place. He would approach her when she was weak and helpless, having failed and feeling the weight of it all, and show her mercy, allowing her to stay in the Underground with her brother. Who knew what could happen in eternity? Jareth had thought then, knowing full well what he would try and that he would go to any lengths to make her his queen.
But instead her will truly seemed as great for she stood just as stubborn, resolute in the face of his offer. Now that had hurt, tossed aside like that, even if he hadn't spoken his affection for her in the best choice of words. And spending an entire year stuck in his owl form…that had been difficult to get over not to mention the state of chaos the dimwitted goblins had left his castle in. Yet through it all, he admired her more now than he cared to admit fully.
She still kept contact with her friends in the labyrinth (with his permission, of course; why would he want his world, and therefore himself, to be forgotten?) and had yet to see through his disguise when he tagged along with the masses on occasion though normally she called only on a select few.
Jareth sighed; a second chance was wonderful yet Sarah still seemed as disinclined toward him as ever. Maybe she just didn't understand (she had been rather young then, who could say?), maybe it just wasn't meant to be (perish the thought!), or maybe…just maybe…
Jareth conjured a crystal and flipped it about absently; he was going to have to work on a better first impression than her last visit. That, and assure himself that she wouldn't discover a way back home.
Meanwhile, Sarah flumped unceremoniously onto an old worn chair in a darkened room. Sitting opposite herself with wide eyes and slack jaw was Hoggle.
"Hoggle!" she cried as she scrambled out of the plush fabric, only to have the arms reach out and yank her back. After a moment of stunned silence she sighed and stopped fighting the possessive chair. "I guess I'll give you a hug later."
"T'ain't nothin' to worry about. Not that it ain't good to see yeh, but what are yeh doing here? I tolds yeh that if yeh ever needs me just to call."
"Well, I hadn't exactly planned this myself but it is so good to see you," her anger and frustration melting away as she sincerely greeted her friend.
"House…small…" came the whining deep voice of Ludo as he appeared next to them, scrunched against the ceiling.
"Ludo!" Sarah greeted happily, though still held hostage by the gentle chair.
"Sawah!" the beast sang back cheerfully, his discomfort momentarily forgotten. He reached down and promptly ripped the arms off of the chair as Hoggle tried vainly to protest. Sarah missed the dwarf's chastisement of the giant furry beast as his voice was too muffled by his orange fur around Sarah's ears when Ludo pulled her into a tight hug.
"Sawah…friend."
"That's right, Ludo," Sarah said as she pulled out of the hug and touched his wrinkly cheek.
After Ludo accidentally broke a second chair, Hoggle grumblingly took the group outside.
"Where is Sir Didymus?"
"Oh, he's off somewheres. Some secret mission or another."
"I suppose we have his snootie-ness to thank for that."
"Naw, he was quite 'cited to go."
The trio, or rather Hoggle and Sarah with a few booming interjections by Ludo, chatted amiably for quite some time as the sun slowly eased lower in the sky.
"There's something that's been bothering me Hoggle. Have either of you been speaking with Toby?"
Hoggle's guilty shuffling of his feet was response enough.
"I see." They were both quiet for a moment, until Hoggle posed a question of his own: "Forgive me askin' Sarah but how did you get here?"
Sighing to herself, Sarah related her story with a voice of resignation.
"Well, I said it once and I'll say it again, you sure got his attention."
"Hoggle, what do you mean by that?"
His reply was cut short as the entire scene vanished before Sarah's eyes and she was yanked away from the spot in a copse of the labyrinth. A dramatically different place registered next: the lavish dining room of the Goblin King on one of two chairs placed at the end of a gigantic wooden table.
"I was in the middle of a conversation, Jareth," she stated calmly with a hint of annoyance.
"I said it didn't matter where you were, you would be joining me for dinner."
"Couldn't you have given me another minute?"
"And let your dinner get cold? I don't think so," Jareth replied with a grin.
Sarah was pretty sure he knew exactly what he had interrupted. She shook her head and rolled her eyes; he was just being Jareth and she was in too light a mood after a visit with her friends to let it bother her much now. Besides, she probably had the rest of eternity to figure it out.
Underground food was phenomenal, much better than what slop had been served in her room, sort of an indirect punishment (she assumed) for refusing to leave those walls earlier. Jareth smiled at her, noticing her eyes widening as she tasted the Underground equivalent to chocolate.
"Would you care to join me in the library?"
Slightly caught off guard by his gallantry as he assisted her from her seat and out the door, she agreed without truly considering the fact that she had just willingly trapped herself to his company.
The room itself was phenomenal. Stacks of books stretching to the ceiling with elegant wooden chairs and glossy tables off to one side and plush chairs (that likely wouldn't try to trap whoever sat in them, though she was wary all the same) for reading.
Sarah glanced around at the tables; she'd always supposed that games were just in his nature: "Checkers, huh?"
"Well, checkers and chess, do you play?" he replied eagerly.
"Not very well," she admitted. "But I play a mean game of Uno." She grinned but Jareth looked at her perplexed. "Look, if you can conjure a deck or whatever it is that you do with the little glass balls, I'll teach you."
He twisted his wrist and produced a little glass ball that phased into a new deck. Sarah shuffled the cards like an expert and dealt quickly. The game took a little explaining but Jareth caught on quickly, balking as Sarah was the first to lay the "draw 2" card.
"But that's cheating."
"It most certainly is not. It's in the rules, now take your cards."
"I'm supposed to get rid of my cards, why should I take more?" Jareth crossed his arms over his chest, grinning all the same.
"Because that's how the game is played." Sarah smirked back, unable to resist his playfulness.
"But how about just this once…"
"Nope."
"It's not fair." Jareth echoed Sarah's oft used phrase from when he was in charge of the game as his smile widened.
"Nope, it isn't. But that's just the way it is. Now pick up your stupid cards."
With a great show of reluctance, Jareth reached over and pulled two more into his hand from the deck.
"Happy now?"
Sarah's grinned excitedly, "Yep." She laid down her last card: "I'm out. I win."
Jareth looked about ready to announce that the game was unfair again but thought better of it. Instead he muttered in a slightly sullen voice, "So what do you win?"
Sarah thought for a moment, wondering if she could take advantage of the situation.
"Apparently nothing." Too late, Jareth saw she was considering something. "Still, we could make it more interesting."
Sarah raised a skeptical eyebrow, "such as?" Jareth shrugged and Sarah gave him a look that read "well that's not helpful" but only sighed, searching her brain for something. "Well maybe you could…no never mind," Sarah flushed, embarrassed about what she was about to request.
The blush didn't escape Jareth's notice. "What is it?" he urged her to continue, all too sure that it was some delicious secret.
"Well…no you'd think it was stupid," Sarah shot back.
Interest only piqued further, Jareth continued to press.
Finally Sarah gave in: "Alright, alright! Ever since you came and took Toby away, I've always just kind of wondered…" Sarah sighed and glanced up at Jareth. "You're just going to laugh at me."
"Not at all, you have my word," Jareth replied earnestly, truly interested in what she had to say. He touched her hand lightly to convey his sincerity.
"Fine…alright. Ever since you appeared into that room that night, I've always wondered. I just don't know how you did it."
"Did what Sarah?" he asked when she hesitated again, moving closer to her.
Biting her lip, Sarah spoke in a rush, "I always wanted to know how you do that thing with the crystals. Flipping them around on your hand and all that."
Jareth blinked, his mind on a totally different track than Sarah's.
"See? You think it's stupid."
Still trying to recover, Jareth replied, "No, no. It's fine."
"Really? Could you teach me? I've just always wanted to know how to do it." Sarah's eagerness slowly eroded some of her embarrassment.
"I suppose…" he state, sliding back to his spot on the couch, slightly disappointed (though Sarah seemed to miss it).
"Alright, so how does it work?"
"I don't know. You just do."
"That's not very helpful."
Jareth just responded with a patented Goblin King smirk.
"Look, if you're too scared to even try then—"
"I'm not afraid." With a flick of his wrist, Jareth generated a perfect crystal and handed it to Sarah before conjuring one for himself. "Watch," he commanded. With delicate ease, he floated the ball over his hand for a moment. "Now you try."
"I'll break it."
"It won't break, don't worry."
Still skeptical, Sarah held the crystal carefully; it sure felt like glass.
"Trust me, Sarah."
Sighing lightly, Sarah twitched her hand forward, trying to get the momentum started and each time catching the ball instead.
"No, you've got to try it like this."
"Easy for you to say. You've had God knows how many years to practice."
"I'm only 443." When Sarah's only response was to stare, Jareth immediately informed her, "That's still incredibly young for an immortal. My parents are a couple millennia and then some. Besides, you'll be immortal soon, too. Unless you can find a way back to the surface."
"Immortal, huh? Weird. Is there really no way you can die?"
"No, there are still ways but I don't plan on telling them to you at this point."
"Gee, thanks."
He immediately tried to defend his statement and assure her that it wasn't meant offensively but Sarah interrupted with, "Just show me how to do this."
Maybe it had been a silly question but it was something she'd always been curious about and he proved to be a patient teacher, despite what she would have assumed. Though every once in a while when she lost control of the crystal, it would have this strange tendency to squirt water or melt into some sticky substance when she went to retrieve it while Jareth just gave yet another patented Goblin King smirk. Between Sarah's small outbursts of "What was that for?" or "Har har very funny" or occasional bits of laughter and Jareth's bizarre teaching and rich laughter, they managed a side bit of conversation.
Finally, Sarah cheered, "Look! Look, I'm getting the hang of it!"
"I see that. Perhaps someday you'll be able to conjure crystals of your own. Hard telling what gifts the labyrinth might give you, being so close and all." He glanced at the tall floor clock that was somehow too short to reach the floor and declared, "It's getting late. Much as I hate to see you return to the same four walls you've spent the past two days, I'm afraid I must suggest as much."
Sarah yawned, "yeah, that's probably a good idea." She started to give the crystal back to Jareth.
"No, keep it. Keep practicing if you really want to learn it."
Sarah smiled and rose from her chair, clutching the ball carefully. Leaning over Jareth's chair, she kissed his forehead. "Thank you for the lesson."
The corners of Jareth's mouth twitched into a contented smile thinking that perhaps it was a start as he heard Sarah's footsteps start to walk away.
"Oh, and Jareth?" Sarah called at the door of the library.
"Yes?" he asked, turning around.
Sarah smiled wickedly then twirled her wrist lightly and generated a crystal: "Catch!"
Stunned as he was, Jareth obeyed and was rewarded with a face full of paint as the ball exploded in his hands. Smirking regardless, he rose from his chair.
"You! I'll have you thrown in an oubliette!"
Sarah only laughed and ran from the door frame, the Goblin King (the blue paint having changed to a vibrant green then a fabulous shade of pink and still changing) in hot pursuit.
And there you have it. The whole point of this really was just to have Sarah ask how he does the crystal thing, that's all I really wanted to do but maybe I'll write more...I kinda like this...meh probably not on this one though. Thanks for reading.