The Prince

By: I Agree

I in no way shape or form own Labyrinth or its characters. I am a mere storywriter who enjoys twisting up the lives of fictional characters to suit her vicarious romantic and squee-moment needs.

Chapter 13: Tales of Truths

"There are how many days left? Ten?"

Jareth looked over from the other side of the little table he'd conjured up, eyes glazed with a exhaustion she never would have expected from him. Around his fingers twirled his pendant, an idle move that had her mesmerized more than once in the past hour as they sat and ate together. She'd been shocked when he'd started eating with her, somehow she hadn't imagined that he did eat, or that he ate so. . . normally, without aire's. But instead of sitting ramrod straight with his pinkie extended the Goblin King of the Labyrinth was lounging back and picking at his food with gloved hands.

"Yes," he confirmed blithely, "In two hours or so it'll be nine."

A frown twisted her mouth, "So basically it would have been less time consuming to go the old way. . ."

"Precisely." He executed a little flip of the pendant, and she watched it sail in midair before he lazily caught it. He did the move a few more times before her eye was drawn to the open door she'd come out of.

"What is that place anyway? I thought labyrinth's were supposed to be a 'spiritual journey' or something like that."

"They are." He confirmed with an expert twist of his wrist that sent the necklace higher than before, twirling in mid air, up then down onto his fingers again. "Is not fear a spiritual experience?"

She rolled her eyes at him and Jareth continued without needing to be prompted, "That labyrinth is a remnant of the previous king, he took his responsibilities quite more seriously than I. He did not like to give challengers even the remote chance of saving their babies. . . and he particularly enjoyed watching their failures end in death. You are one of the few who has actually managed to escape it."

She didn't know whether she should feel proud or if it should frighten her. She settled on plucking up another pastry and taking a big bite out of it. She didn't know where Jareth got his foods, if he summoned them from some kitchen or if he made everything himself, but damn everything was so delicious. "Hoggle told me some stuff about the old king," she said around the danish, "so did the littler version of you."

"How dignified," Jareth purred as he watched her eat, an amused smirk on his face. He stopped twirling the pendant, only to wind the chain about his fingers. "Goblin King Valerian was well known for his cruelty, but more notably, for his stupidity. It may be several millennia since I took the throne, but he still serves as a warning for us all."

"Right," she licked the flakes of pastry off her fingers, something Jareth zeroed in on immediately, "because he took the 'wrong baby.' Whatever that means."

"Hmm," his tone was a low purr as he stared at her fingers, eyes dark and sharp as they watched her. Unsure of what to do, unsure of how she felt about his reaction, she dropped her hand to the cloth napkin in her lap. She bit the inside of her lower lip as he brought his gaze up to hers and continued, "Yes, he made a foolish decision and took a child he shouldn't have."

"I didn't know there was a baby the a Changeling King couldn't take. What was so special about this one?"

A sly smile slowly bloomed on his face, "It was the Summer King's child."

She frowned, searching his expression, "Summer King? Who..." Her eyes widened, mouth dropping open, "He stole the Sidhe Kings kid? Was he suicidal?" She may not know much of the true machinations of the fae, but she at least knew that.

Jareth chuckled, the dark amusement clear in his eyes, "Overconfident of his power and place in the world is the likely reasoning. Valerian had control of the Undergrounds source of magic and it's probable he let it go to his head."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously on him, recalling a previous conversation with a certain tiny prince. She tapped her fingers on the table. "Mini-you said that you wouldn't get in trouble for doing what the old king did."

"Hmm," he started twirling the pendant again, his face becoming veiled and unreadable, "how about that."

"Oh don't start," Sarah sighed, "that mysterious and cryptic behavior, I thought we were past this. I'm not fifteen anymore."

His gaze darkened again as it flit down what he could see of her form, "I should say not, Sarah."

She stared him down, fighting not to look away as he met her gaze without any reserve. He was an infuriating fae and she was not going to back down until he get her a straight answer! She didn't want to feel like she was pulling teeth every time she spoke to him. Fairly quickly she began to regret her choice, her decision to not look away. . . it was like challenging a temperamental tiger. . . with an overconfident attitude problem. . . and access to devious magics that she had no idea what he could do with.

She couldn't help it, glancing away with a heavy blush, "Seriously, Jareth, why can you break the rules?"

When she looked back at him, his smile was pure triumph, "I am a member of the Sidhe by name only, granted merely because my father was, before being overthrown, the Summer King."

For the second time shock rolled through her, mouth dropping open, "What?!"

"Oh did I not tell you?" Jareth smirked, knowing quite clearly that he hadn't told her. "Yes, Father ruled over the Court for a good two millennia. A long time for the Sidhe, quite impressive. He lost the majority of his support when he ignored his duties to find his child."

She hadn't thought it possible, but her mouth fell open even more, "You're the baby that was stolen?!"

"Oh my, all these revelations," he sipped nonchalantly at his wine as he – clearly – enjoyed her stupefaction. He let her stew in her shock for a bit, waiting to see if her mind would catch up with her. It wasn't. "I am able to break the rules because, while I am Sidhe by birth, I was raised for many years by the former Goblin King, who was Unsidhe, the lawless Court. The Sidhe have no love for their kind, and yet, because I was their Kings son, they couldn't deny me."

She stared at him a moment longer, her jaw snapping shut with an audible click. "So. . . you can break the rules, because you have no rules, or because they expect it from you?"

The smile that traced his mouth was decidedly predatory, and a helpless little shiver ran up her spine. "A little bit of both."

Oh. . . wow. She watched him a moment, eyeing him as he reveled in her surprise. It made sense in a way but at the same time it didn't. The Labyrinth was, apparently, where Jareth spent his formative years, and so naturally he would want to return, and she could definitely see why the Court might not trust him. But. . . if Jareth had been raised not to follow any of the rules of the Sidhe, then why did he seem to have rules? He wouldn't have let her or Toby go during her first journey through the Labyrinth, he wouldn't have followed through with their little battle of wits at the end of it all.

"Enough about my sad tale, Sarah," Jareth's voice cut into her thoughts and she blinked out of her trance, "Tell me, how did you get out of the Hall?"

"Uh. . ." a shrug tilted her shoulders, "I walked through the Path-of-Creepy-Growling, answered some riddles, opened some doors. It was terrifying but, I dunno, pretty easy compared to the things you put me through once I think about it."

The look on his face told her something was off, he hadn't anticipated what she'd said. "What of the rooms? What happened there?"

Confused with his questioning, Sarah told him, in detail when she was prompted, what occurred in those little rooms; the nothingness of the walls, the growling, her disorientation, and even the presence of her dress. He watched her closely through her narrative, looking for something in her face that she couldn't fathom. Did she think she'd lie to him? Really she had no reason to, besides she really, really wanted to know what was going down in that place too. And if she cooperated and told him everything, he would probably, hopefully, tell her what that place was all about. Why, if not many other people had escaped that labyrinth, was she able to so easily?

When she finished, her voice trailing off to encourage him to speak now, Jareth sat back in his chair and stared at the open door before them. She waited, picking at the rest of her danish as she tried not to follow his gaze.

"You're a very lucky woman, Sarah." He said after a length of time, "You didn't experience half of what you should have experienced."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that, while your journey through the actual Hall sounds typical, your ordeal in the rooms does not." He looked over, completely serious, "The riddles are simple enough because that's not all that should have happened. Fear is supposed to distract the challenger. That first room is meant to close in on a challenger, the stone eating away the space until the occupant is crushed. The second room is meant to pull the occupant into a dream, making them forget there was ever anything else."

Sarah looked askance at him, "That sounds familiar."

"Where do you think I learned it from?"

She couldn't help the grimace, not sure if she liked the thought of Jareth being so influenced by something so horrible. "Okay, so. . . why is it so different now? The magic is simple enough, right? What's changed?"

"That is quite the question. . ."

Her gaze jerked over as she opened her mouth to scold him. Didn't she just tell him to stop being cryptic? But the pointed look he gave her stopped her short. "Ah. . . curse."

"Perhaps."

They each fell silent, Sarah lost in her thoughts as she tried to process all she'd heard from him. She hadn't expected him to be the sharing type, especially not with such personal information. Of course, it was rather dramatic personal information and so he was obviously trying to shock her. Endeavor succeeded. But it was still weird for her. During her first journey through the Labyrinth he'd only ever inquired about her impressions, examined her demeanor, only spoke of her dreams. . .

Her heart dropped to her stomach as those thoughts coalesced into one startling revelation. She hadn't realized this before but. . . he really had done everything for her, hadn't he? He'd made every aspect of her first journey centered on the selfish, self-involved brat of a girl who thought of no one but herself, who wanted an adventure all about her. She wanted a purpose? He gave that to her by stealing her half-brother. She needed an enemy? He gladly took that role.

He was still doing it too, offering up bits of himself and his history and asking nothing in return but pieces of information that would only help her in the end. All because. . . did he really? Had the book gotten it right?

A clothed finger tapped against her forehead and Sarah looked up to find Jareth smiling down at her and offering his hand.

"Come," his voice was soft and beguiling, "such deep thoughts aren't becoming for such a late hour. It's time for you to rest."

Automatically she reached out and took his hand, letting him pull her up. He dropped her hand almost immediately and gestured to a small bed which had come from nowhere. A bed suitable for only one. She took a step towards it, thankful to see a place to sleep comfortably even if it was out in the open, but stopped, biting her lower lip. It was such a small thing in comparison to all the things he'd already done for her, was still doing for her, it was selfish and rude of her to even think of it. . . but she had to know.

"Jareth. . ." her voice was hesitant, and she could tell by the way he tensed that he felt her indecision and the weight of what she was going to ask, ". . . in the Hall. . . I called for you. I wanted your help to get out. . . but you didn't. . ."

The tension in the Goblin King eased out of him in an instant, leaving him with a soft, sad smile as he reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Forgive me, Sarah-mine. I heard you, and wanted to go to your rescue but it's impossible for me to enter that place."

She blinked, "What you? But it's your Labyrinth."

He hummed noncommittally, running his gloved fingers down the side of her throat as he smiled down at her, "I had a habit, one Valerian didn't like, of going into the Hall to rescue challengers. To this day I cannot go in there."

The fear faded from her, a fear she didn't know had been as acute as it was, and she nodded, "Okay."

"Okay?" The word was a murmured breath against her lips as he slowly leaned ever closer.

A new emotion, a different sort of sweet anxiousness, bloomed in her stomach. Sarah couldn't help but lean away from him, "W-wait. Doesn't a fairies kiss make humans a thrall?"

That slow, predatory smile slid into place again, his gloved thumbs lightly caressing behind her ears as he held her, "Did your little book tell you that?"

His lips were soft and warm as they touched her in a chaste kiss, an exploratory, barely-there brushing of his skin against her own. He was hesitant, his hand only there to touch, not hold her there, as if he were waiting for her to bolt away from him. But Sarah was lost, an electric tingle floating over her skin to the very tips of her toes, concentrating on where their skin touched, her mind blank but for the sensation of his mouth against hers.

But just as soon as he kissed her, Jareth moved away, stepping back until he was no longer hovering over her, forcing her to acknowledge the intimacy of their closeness. Immediately she felt his absence, cool air replacing the space he'd just filled, and she shivered, unwilling to look up at him with the blush she could feel staining her cheeks.

Sarah felt his hand pressed against the small of her back, pushing her gently towards the bed. Without any further prodding – when did she get so tired? – Sarah slipped beneath the covers and rested her tired head on the pillow. Her eyes quickly drifted shut. "G-night, Jareth."

She was nearly asleep, mind cloudy and drifting, and so she couldn't be positive of what she heard as fingers caressed her forehead, moving strands of her hair out of the way of her face.

"Pleasant dreams, my love."

(-TP-)

Word Count: 2,607 Date Written: 26th May – 2nd June 2015

A.N. Just an explanation of the little laby, some important shit went down in there and I didn't want to just skate over it. The kiss was fairly hard to get in there too since their relationship is only starting to bud, but I didn't want to disappoint on the 13th chapter.

Please Regard Me Kindly,

I Agree