Author's note: OK, so this was inspired by (or more accurately, the fault of) my husband. See, I was taking a break from binge reading Labyrinth fanfiction (which he was really sick of hearing about), and decided to revisit one of my childhood favorites, the Princess and the Goblin, after reading a hilarious crossover (Jareth and the Goblin Queen, by KillforKlondike). It had been so long since I'd read it that I'd forgotten many of the wonderful little details that had been changed for the movie, not the least of which being the fact that Prince Harelip (Froglip for movie fans) was not the son of the current goblin queen, but of the Goblin King's first wife, a Sun woman. I mentioned these fascinating details to my husband, who's response was… "I bet her name was Sarah." And there was the plot bunny that refused to leave me alone. So, I dedicate this to my husband who is responsible for it. I have stuck as close as possible to the original story, while giving new perspective to it. I did deviate to include the final battle from the movie because it better suited my purposes. Also, to set the record straight, I'm NOT a fan of Harelip/Irene in general, but the plot bunny demanded it.
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Once there was a great Fae king, Jareth, the ruler of the Goblin Kingdom. After centuries of loneliness, he fell in love with a mortal girl, Sarah, who had proven her worth by beating the trial of his kingdom, his labyrinth. After her victory, he sought to woo her and in the end his victory was greater than hers, for he won something far more precious, her heart. The kingdom prospered under their joint rule, and they were happy for many years. The new Queen brought balance to the King. Where he was cruel, she was kind. Where he was arrogant, she was humble. Their marriage was the start of a golden age, made more bright when the couple announced that the kingdom would soon have an heir.
But it was not to last… On the night the young prince was born something went horribly wrong, and the Queen was dying. The healers could not save her. Even the magic of her husband gave them only a short time to say goodbye. As she left the world, she named her son Jareth, after his father.
The King's grief at the death of his Queen knew no bounds, and he fell into despair. They say that time heals all wounds, but his did not. His despair only grew deeper with time. And so, for the sake of his kingdom, he resolved never to think of the Queen again. He got rid of everything that reminded him of her. He ordered that her name never be spoken. She loved music, so he had it banished from his kingdom. Even his Fae body was too human, and reminded him of her, so he changed the face and form of himself and his son to be like those of the goblins they ruled. Because the Queen had named the young prince, the King changed the boy's name to Harelip. A cruel name, perhaps, but fitting for his new form. No one used the King's name outside of his family, but he forbid it anyway, for that is what she called him. And after all of that, it still wasn't enough. The castle and the labyrinth, their home and how they met, were still painful reminders. So he moved his subjects to the distant mountains on the edge of the mortal world. Without the King's magic, the labyrinth started to die. The proximity to the mortal world would have bothered him, being so close to her people, but so long as he remained in the subterranean caverns beneath the mountains he never had to think of it.
Years passed, and while the kingdom did not prosper as it once had, it did survive and was at peace with its neighbors. There were of course, occasional instances of the goblins causing mischief for unsuspecting surface dwellers, sun people as the goblins now called them. But mischief is part of a goblin's nature, and as they caused no real harm to the recipients of their pranks, the King ignored it. Eventually, the King's advisers told him that the kingdom needed a queen again. This infuriated the king, for although he no longer thought of her, in his heart Sarah was still his Queen. The council was adamant, but he put it off as long as he could. Finally, he could put it off no longer and had no choice but to select a bride from among the goblin women. He could never again marry for love, so he chose a woman who he thought could handle the stresses of the crown.
Unfortunately, the King did not choose wisely. The new Queen did not bring balance to the King and did nothing to cure his depression. She was a vile and cruel woman, nothing like the King's first wife, but most of all, she was jealous. She hated to be reminded of Sarah almost as much as the King did. Because Harelip reminded the Queen that the King had loved another, and that he would never love her, the Queen hated Harelip. She made life miserable for him at every opportunity. The King knew nothing of had long ago turned the care of his son over to a trusted member of his council, a goblin who was easily manipulated by the Queen with flattery and threats.
And so Prince Harelip grew to maturity never knowing real love. Indeed, he knew little more than the cruelty of his step mother, the mischief of the goblins, and a prideful arrogance that he inherited from his father. He did, however, have a soft spot. A part of his heart inherited from his mother. He guarded this part of his heart fiercely, and kept it hidden from the world.
Because of their new Queen's hatred of the sun people, the goblin's mischief on the surface became increasingly malicious, and more frequent. The increased activity started to draw attention to the goblin kingdom. The peace became uneasy. Soon, the sun people discovered the goblin's hatred of music, and started wielding songs as weapons when necessary. But still the uneasy peace held.
Time passed, and eventually word came to the King that the sun people's miners were close to breaking through into his kingdom. His people's homes were in danger and something had to be done. The King's Council sought to find a peaceful solution, but the Queen refused to allow emissaries to be sent to the Sun King. She would love for war to break out, and everyone knew that it would pain the King too much to go to speak to the Sun King himself. At last the counsel struck on a plan. They would flood the mines as a warning for the sun people to stay away.
And that is what would have happened, if the Goblin Prince had not one evening, seen the young sun princess of the neighboring kingdom, Princess Irene. Something about her reached out to him and touched that part of his heart that he'd guarded so closely, and like his father before him, Harelip fell in love with a mortal. She was out late that night when some of the goblin's creatures frightened her. But before Harelip could do anything, a young sun boy, a miner, came and frightened them away with a song.
Because of the sun people's fear of the goblins, Harelip knew he couldn't approach Irene. So he watched from a distance and let a plan form in his mind. He knew he could not go to his father or step mother for assistance. The Queen hated the sun people above all else, except perhaps Harelip himself. His father behaved strangely where the sun people were concerned. So he would approach the council about a political marriage. It would solve the problem with the miners without violence. Of course, the Sun King would never agree to the marriage, so they would have to kidnap the Princess and force her to marry him. Harelip didn't mind that though, as long as he had Irene by his side. He was confident that he could win her love in time.
The council approved his plan. Kidnapping the Sun Princess was mischievous enough for the goblins, cruel enough for his step mother, and a peaceful enough solution for his father. It was a perfect plan. Of course, Harelip would never hurt Irene, or allow her to be the subject of any of his subjects more malicious pranks, but the council didn't need to know that, and especially not the Queen. The council halted the flood project, and turned all their resources towards Harelip's plan.
Unfortunately, the plan failed. The Princess was taken away from him by that same sun boy who'd come to her rescue before. That night Harelip's dreams started. The dreams disturbed him, not only because he always lost Irene in the end, but because it made very vivid things that had, in the moment, gone unnoticed. The fear in Irene's eyes when she looked at him, the way he hated himself for making her feel that way, the way she felt in his arms for those few wonderful moments when he thought he'd won, the smell of her hair, the way he despised himself for threatening her to try to scare off the sun boy, and the anger and jealousy when he lost her and saw her with the sun boy. He relived these moments, night after night. Not long after that, Irene was taken to a distant part of her father's kingdom, leaving Harelip alone and miserable, without even the comfort of knowing she was close. When the word came, Harelip wished he could make her understand, show her how much he loved her.
The night Irene left she dreamed of a handsome Fae prince, with silver blond hair and strange eyes. It was the first of many wonderful dreams.
Years later, word came to the Goblin Kingdom that Princess Irene was getting married, married to the same sun boy who had taken her away from Harelip all those years before. Harelip felt his heart shatter at the news. When the day of the wedding arrived, none of the guests noticed two owls watching from a nearby tree. None of the guests noticed, but the bride did. Something seemed familiar about one of those owls… but she shrugged the feeling off. Harelip was still a Fae, despite the spell that made him appear to be a goblin, and so the moment Irene said her vows, he started to die. When the sun set he would leave the world behind and go to join the mother he'd never known. In the midst of his despair, he took some small comfort in the thought that Irene was happy, even if he was not the one to make her so. And so he died, never knowing that, although she married another, her heart belonged to a Fae prince with strange eyes…
That night the dreams stopped.
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Author's note: So depressing… so for those who love a happy ending, I'm working on a prequel/sequel/alternate ending. How can you have all those things rolled into one? You'll just have to wait and see. I won't be posting it until I finish it though, so if you're interested, follow this story, as I will be posting a short bonus scene to bridge the gap between the two.