Ayden shot forward before anyone could draw a breath, slamming Rì into a pillar. The fae's eyes were wild and despite his every muscle's demand for magick there was none.

"Why aren't you dead?!" He demanded. The fae's mind seeing the troll king as Oberon for his face was nearly the same as the deposed king.

"Come now," Rì laughed. "We all know what an unfaithful bastard my father was when he found Titania was barren and kicked him from her bed. Face didn't matter so long as there was release."

Sarah gasped when it clicked and anger rose in her when she stared at the son of the monster who tortured Jareth mercilessly. Her magick churned violently like a caged animal trying to get out.

"Lower the spell." A noble shouted from the crowd. "Unbind the castle so we can wipe the last of Oberon's seed from this earth!"

One by one the crowd shouted in agreement. Sarah tried not to cower as the group pressed closer and closer with violent intentions. 'Briec can't control the spell.' Her eyes searched for the high king. She didn't need to see his expression to sense that the magic protecting the castle was rooted by ancient magic that was placed there by the gods. No explanations had to be given about the spell, she felt it's intent - An intent that made the castle a place of peace, a place where offensive magic could do no harm.

"I should gut you here and now." Ayden growled so low and animalistic like it was amazing those near him could hear his words.

Rì smirked, "I'd like to see you try."

When Jareth moved, Sarah was scared. He walked straight for the troll king with an expression so cold everyone swore they felt a chill. He gripped Ayden's shoulder in a silent message and the fae tossed Rì aside. Everyone took a back step when they sensed Jareth's magick boiling and spreading underneath the binding spell. While it couldn't attack a breathing soul within the castle, the mass weight of the power blew out the scones and shook the foundation of the castle.

"He always said you were an abomination." Rì spat. "What fae would release this kind of destruction on the holy spot of his own kind?"

Jareth lunged forward and threw the Halfling in the direction of the balcony. Once outside, he slammed the half troll into the marble so hard it would have broken many bones if not for the fae blood in the king.

"What fae would attempt to kill his sister's child? The child she spent centuries wanting but was never graced with. What brother would kill his own?" Jareth countered then slammed him down again. "Having divine blood makes me no different and no more or less dangerous as the next king."

.

The punch was unexpected and so was the slash of a knife that came after it. Rì rolled them over and slammed Jareth down before holding the knife against him threateningly.

"Bastard child, bastard heir!" Rì spat.

Jareth spat back and fought for the knife. He managed to kick Rì off and they paced each other. When Rì lunged, Jareth sidestepped him and grabbed his torso when he passed. They rolled down the grand steps until Jareth was on the bottom once more. This time the knife was in him. Rì removed it swiftly and moved to cut Jareth's throat next.

Sarah was about to scream when something tackled Rì off of Jareth. Snarls told her that it was an animal but in the dark she couldn't tell what kind. Deep growls and the sound of tearing flesh filled the air just as quickly as the stench of blood.

Without a moment of hesitation she ran to Jareth and helped him to his feet. Once Jareth was up, they both were knocked off their feet by a gust of wind that came with a transport spell. What followed was sickening silence.

"Get a light!" someone inside hollered.

Sarah blinked through the darkness and when she heard wheezing she first thought it was Jareth.

"Sarah?" Jareth reached out and touched her.

"It's injured. The thing that helped you." Sarah realized and crawled over the steps and then the dirt to where she heard the wheezing. When her hand collided with something soft, warm, and wet she knew she found it. "Over here!" She shouted so others could find them. She sought out her magic and started to weave the spell for light. When she and Jareth were graced with it, she almost wished she hadn't.

.

The beast that came to Jareth's aid was an oversized wolf. Its silver fur was stained red from his blood and crystal blue eyes were filled with pain.

"Mac tire," Jareth breathed and stroked the ear of his old friend. 'You came to my aid…'

Sarah took one look between Jareth and the wolf then shouted, "I need a healer!"

The wolf struggled to raise his head and Jareth shushed him, "Stay. All will be well, my friend."

Ayden joined them in the garden with a healer, as the healer got to work the fae froze. Jareth noticed and looked up at him, "Ayden?"

The fae swallowed and knelt next to the wolf, his magic reached out to the beast and in reply it cried softly before nuzzling his hand. Ayden fell back on his rear in disbelief, "It's not a wolf." Wide eyes looked at Jareth. "It's a seal."

.*.*.*.*.*.

At the seaside manor Jareth sat in the chair across from the bed the wolf was laid on. The summons he sent for healers and wizards were met with zeal, but one by one they left the estate baffled by the seal on the wolf. Now that he could see it, he too was confused by it.

'It isn't a fae seal or any seal that originates from the Underground.' Jareth concluded after spending a second day looking at the spell formation that created the seal. With a sigh he scrubbed his face. 'If I don't know how it was made I can't find a way to break it.'

"Jareth," Sarah gave his shoulder a small squeeze. "You need to rest."

"I'll be fine, precious." Jareth replied.

"Loki won't be much longer. He can give us a guess on where the seal is from." Sarah said to assure him that there was an answer for his friend.

Jareth nodded mutely and pulled her down onto his lap, "I'm sorry our vacation turned out to be this."

"You had no control over this." Sarah reasoned as a way to tell him not to apologize. She had half a mind to direct blame at Rì but didn't feel the need to verbalize what everyone felt.

Jareth made a sound but it couldn't be placed as a protest or affirmation. He rested his chin on her shoulder with a sigh, "I could have tried more."

"Jareth," Sarah breathed.

When the ether rippled, neither looked up. Arthur crawled straight to them while Loki followed his grandson's path through the ether. After the babe saw his parents he crawled toward the bed.

"Arthur," Sarah started but Jareth shushed her with a soft kiss.

"He'll be alright. Mac tire for some reason is good with children." Jareth told her.

Sarah looked at him wide eyed and he chuckled before motioning for her to get up. When Loki stepped through the portal and closed it, they both were on their feet.

The god looked at the wolf and winced at seeing the extent of the beast's wounds. A shiver went through him as it registered Jareth would have had those wounds if the beast didn't appear when he did.

"The realm's best healers and wizards are baffled at the seal." Jareth told Loki. "It's nothing from the Underground."

Loki walked up to the bed, faltering only for a minute when the wolf growled. When Jareth approached the beast calmed and Loki inspected the seal.

"Odd…" The god's brow knit in confusion. "It feels familiar but I can't place it."

.

Sarah shook her head with a sigh as father and son went into a magickal conversation that might as well been subtitled with Chinese characters. When Arthur fussed she was glad for the brief distraction.

'I do not understand a word of this.' Sarah sighed and cuddled Arthur despite his squirminess. When he reached toward the bed she set him down and watched him carefully. He stopped fussing and looked at the wolf in awe.

Like all small children, he tried to pet the beast but Sarah was quick to correct him, making the grasping pets smoothing ones by showing him how. To her surprise, Arthur caught on and eventually hugged the wolf. The wolf lifted his head to look at the babe but then lay back down. His muscles relaxed and the beast let loose a soft croon.

"Do you think we should ask Odin?" Jareth's voice filtered into Sarah's mind.

Loki shook his head; "The seal is divine, until we know who set it we shouldn't involve anyone else."

Sarah looked at the pair, "But if a god sealed this person shouldn't we be scared of the reason why?"

Jareth sighed, "Yes but his actions during the course of my life have been nothing but supportive and kind. There are plenty of gods who have cursed mortals for no reason other than jealousy."

"Unfortunately that is true," Loki confessed. "I myself can name several mortals that I sent curses toward, but nothing like this."

"I could ask Ayden if he can communicate with Mac tire to find out what happened." Jareth suggested.

Sarah frowned, "You are not teleporting with that wound." She said while motioning to the stab to the gut that the healer finished tending to hours before. The stab wasn't overly bad, but when the blade was removed in the heat of the battle it became a slash that went sideways. It was deep enough it needed stitches despite the magickal healing.

.

Loki sighed and was racking his mind for ideas when a soft glow caught his attention. While Jareth and Sarah bickered back and forth on who would do what – or rather who was the boss of whom – Arthur laid his head on the wolf's stomach. The babe's magic soaked into the wolf and created a soft blue glow that slowly covered every inch of the wolf. When the magic covered every inch, the light intensified until it was blinding.

"Arthur!" Sarah shouted out of fear. Blindly, she reached forward until she felt her son's clothing. When she felt the cloth of his shirt she grabbed him and held him to her chest.

"Sarah," Jareth searched blindly for his family. When he felt Sarah's arm he cradled bother her and Arthur against his chest.

The magic hummed loudly before a blast of wind crashed against the walls. At the same time the light dissipated.

Everyone blinked then looked in the direction of the bed. On the bed laid a tall, muscular blond. The man was hung over the side of the bed heaving, completely nude. His back and arms were graced with several tattoos, the main one being a Nordic wolf in between his shoulder blades.

Sarah squeaked out of embarrassment and hid her face. Jareth loosened his hold on her with a chuckle before walking over to the man. He gripped his shoulder and wove spells that would make the dizziness pass. At the same time he weaved the needed spells to take care of any other ailment that came with transforming.

After several minutes crystal blue eyes looked up at Jareth in thanks before the fae was brought into a tight hug.

"Bròdir," he said with so much emotion.

The fae's mind scrambled to translate what he heard and when the man released him, he stood and eyed Loki.

Loki stood in awe and when the man was two feet from him he breathed, "Vali."

Jareth jerked and stared at the pair and at the man that was his brother.

.

Vali eyed Loki for at most a minute before punching his father so hard he crashed back into and through the wall behind him. Without a second of hesitation he jumped through the hole and landed a second punch to Loki's jaw as the god tried to get up. The goblins who filled the hall ran away screaming upon sensing the brawl.

"Gutting you wouldn't calm this rage." Vali hissed low and let his father go roughly, effectively slamming the god into the floor before swiftly kicking him once in the gut.

Loki groaned and rolled to his side. It was only until after he spat out blood that Vali walked away satisfied.

Wordlessly, he returned to the bedroom via the hole Loki's body made and grabbed the sheet to wrap up in. When the ether rippled, all eyes were on the portal as Sigyn stepped through.

The woman gaped at seeing Vali and the man grinned before hugging his mother.

.*.*.*.*.*.

When Sarah handed the bowl of stew of Vali, he smiled at her in thanks. If not for the reason for everyone being gathered in the living room of her apartment, she would have found the sight of a Viking clad in Jareth's faintly too small and short pants funny. While the pair was almost the same height, Vali was so muscular that barrowing Jareth's clothes made him look more like the Hulk than a Viking with the bottoms bulging and torn to accommodate his calves.

Vali inhaled half of the stew before he sat back with the bowl held loosely in his lap. His gaze drifted to the people that made up his family.

"What do you want to know?" He asked them all.

"Wherever you want to begin." Sarah answered before anyone else could.

Vali nodded grimly, his head falling to his free hand with a sigh. He put the bowl on the coffee table and scrubbed his face with both hands.

"After," he hesitated and looked at Loki. "I ran through the realms in search of a refuge. After a hundred years I found one in the ruins of what I later found was Arthur's Avalon. It was peaceful for a time but the Underground's quarrels made me choose a home that was less peaceful so that others could experience peace. I don't know where it was for sure, but it probably was an early version of the Labyrinth since the place wasn't overrun with a single race.

"The people there welcomed my appearance and the protection I brought with me. I often overheard villagers calling me a deity born out of their need for a saver. I never kept track of years, but sometime after that I found myself captured and imprisoned." Vali paused and glanced at Jareth before closing his eyes and resting his chin on his folded hands. "After that one day the door to my prison was opened up to another cell. Food stopped coming and the only water available was in the next cell. When I wandered in, I found Jareth. It took me only one whiff to know that we shared the same father. In that moment I thought the gods were giving me a chance to finish my penance for what had happened to Narvi. I shielded him as often as I could bear from the poison that dripped in from the ceiling by standing over him and letting the venom soak into my fur. When my endurance failed I tried to break the chains but my attempts made things worse."

Sarah's gaze shifted to Jareth's gloved hands. The fae was always self-conscious of the scars the manacles made on the flesh and refused to go without his leather gloves. She couldn't remember a time when he didn't wear them. Changing diapers magickly had become a huge habit for the fae to prevent removing his gloves. She scolded him constantly but when she saw the pain in his eyes, she stopped commenting on it.

"To chase off nightmares I would lay over the remains that was built into the floor and encourage him to roll out of the venom's reach." Vali continued solemnly as his hands fell from his face. "Oberon sent me in there with the expectation that history would repeat itself. Fortunately, it didn't and the tables turned in our favor. Every guard he sent in to hasten things was slaughtered and served as my and Jareth's food source until help arrived. It wasn't enough to give us strength, but what we had prevented the loss of what strength we had."

.

All eyes were on Jareth when he rested his chin on his folded hands. Sarah felt their heartbeat shudder and she reached out to rub his back. Her sensitivity to his magic told her that he was conflicted and confused as he pieced things together with what remained of his memories and with what Vali told. So many memories flashed in his eyes and they tortured him.

"Was Oberon ever there?" Jareth asked.

"A handful of times, but most of them was astral projections." Vali replied.

"And Rì?" Jareth asked.

Vali shook his head, "I often smelled a child but I never saw one other than you so I always dismissed it as it being part of your scent. The venom often overpowered your scent so I didn't get a good memory of it until we met in the Labyrinth while you were recovering."

"How did we get out?" Jareth asked.

Vali's expression turned faintly soft suddenly, "When the castle was under siege someone opened the door. I didn't venture out until the sounds of the battle calmed. Once I discovered that it was the aid we waited for, I guided several guards to the tower where your prison was. One of the men who followed me I think was Briec, but no one spoke names."

.

Jareth nodded solemnly and sighed. He let his head dropped for a moment to compose himself before looking at his brother. When he did, his magic forged a pendant. After standing he offered it to Vali.

Vali looked at the pendant. It wasn't all that different from Jareth's but it was oval and forged from what looked like a mixture of goblin gold and elfin silver. The three jewels in the metal were the same but the etchings were different and more cryptic. In the middle of the triangle the jewels made there was a Celtic symbol that resembled a dragon. To make that symbol stand out, the marbled metal was washed with black so the carving was properly outlined.

Vali looked up at Jareth in confusion after his eyes had absorbed every detail of the pendant.

"You can't return to the realm of your birth and I am not about to let blood or a good deed go unrewarded. The goblins will prepare the duke's quarters and estate for you." Jareth replied.

"Jareth," Vali gaped. His eyes clouded and he stood to embrace his younger brother.

Jareth returned the embrace, burying his face in his elder brother's shoulder briefly, "Welcome home, brother."

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A.N.

*Blinks* I completed a chapter in five days? I did it! (All while juggling finals and work too.)

Here's the next arc of Father's Trial. Be prepared for emotes, tiny bit of smut, swordplay, humor, and tears. Shock blankets will be handed out at the end of every teary chapter.