Disclaimer: I don't own Jareth, Sarah, or Hoggle only Catherine Rose/Amelia, Susan, the nurses, and Cassandra
Chapter 1 A Prophecy is Made
Somewhere in the Goblin Kingdom 1872
Not a sound was heard from the surrounding land as the caped figure on the horse's back pulled his steed to a halt in front of a run down hut.
"Wait here," he commanded softly to his companion a short, ruddy-faced dwarf as he swung down from his horse.
"Yes Yer Majesty," the dwarf said quietly.
The man approached the hut cautiously as the dwarf held the reins of the king's steed. As he prepared to knock on the door it swung open revealing a dark interior lit with the glow from a fireplace.
"Come in Your Majesty," a voice beckoned him.
Startled the king hesitated before entering the hut and striding toward the fireplace where a wing backed chair had been placed.
"Are you the seer?" the king asked quietly.
"I am," the voice answered.
"What is your name?" the king asked more boldly.
"I am known by many names Goblin King," the voice replied. "But you may call me Cassandra."
The Goblin King was once again startled by the seer's knowledge but he quickly overcame it his mask of indifference settling once more on his features.
"Will I be alone for all eternity?" he asked softly.
"No," Cassandra said just as soft.
"No?" the king queried.
"No," the seer repeated firmly. "She will wish a child away, run your Labyrinth, and win. She will be in her teens with hair the color of the earth and eyes the color of emeralds. She will defy you more than once for her will is strong and stubborn like yours. And she will love you as only she can."
"What is her name?" the king asked calmly.
"I do not know her name only that she will come," the seer replied as she lifted her chin from her chest. "She will be born on the ninth of August and will be loved by her parents. And while she runs your Labyrinth a threat to your throne will appear. And she will help in the battle to save your throne from those who would steal it."
"My thanks seer," the king said bowing his head to the woman in the chair.
"Your welcome Jareth Goblin King," Cassandra replied bowing her head in return as the king left her hut.
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The Escher Room 1986
"Give me the child," Sarah whispered as the Goblin King frowned at her.
"Sarah beware," he said his heart thundering in his chest hoping that she wouldn't spurn his affections. "I have been generous up until now. But I can be cruel."
"Generous!" Sarah exclaimed softly tilting her head to the side. "What have you done that's generous?"
"Everything!" he snapped. "Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken away. I took him. You cowered before me. 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. Is that not generous?"
Sarah took a deep breath and looked into the mismatched eyes of the Goblin King. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City," Sarah said as she walked toward him. "For my will is as strong as yours. And my-"
"Stop! Wait!" Jareth said as he lifted his hand to stop her and conjured a crystal. "Look, Sarah. Look what I'm offering you-your dreams."
"And my kingdom is great," Sarah continued as she continued to walk toward the distraught king.
"I ask for so little," Jareth pleaded as he backed away from her still clutching the crystal. "Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want."
"Kingdom is great…Damn! I can never remember that line," Sarah mumbled angrily. "Just fear me, love me, do as I say," the king continued to plead. "And I will be your slave."
"My kingdom is great…My kingdom is great," Sarah repeated over and over before it hit her. "You have no power over me. You have no power over me!"
With a heavy heart Jareth threw the crystal up into the air before transforming into his owl form as the Escher Room dissolved around them.
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Somewhere in the Goblin Kingdom 1986
"Was Sarah the one?" Jareth asked the seer later that week.
"No," Cassandra said as she gazed into the flames dancing in the fireplace.
"Then why did I make a fool of myself trying to get her to stay?" the king mused out loud.
"You didn't," the seer said as she slowly turned her head toward the king. "Your heart simply wasn't in the effort of trying to keep her here with you."
Jareth looked at the woman startled who gazed back at him unfazed.
"My heart wasn't in it?" he asked perplexed.
"Tell me, my king, when this mortal was born," the seer softly commanded.
"The ninth of August in nineteen-seventy-two," Jareth replied automatically.
"Then it was my fault," Cassandra murmured looking back at the flames.
"What do you mean?" the king growled in annoyance.
"She will be born in the year nineteen-ninety," the seer said avoiding the king's angry eyes. "And you will sense when she is born."
With a last growl Jareth stalked out of the hut slamming the door behind him.
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The Castle beyond the Goblin City 1990
Jareth lounged moodily in his throne as he glared into a crystal almost wishing someone would wish a child away so that he could make the person run the Labyrinth. Suddenly he heard a woman screaming in pain. Focusing on the screaming he let the crystal change from emptiness to a delivery room in a hospital where a young woman was in labor with her first child.
"Ok Susan," the nurse told the laboring woman. "Your baby is crowning and you need to push again."
The woman nodded as she took a deep breath before bearing down again with all her strength.
'Where is her husband?' the king wondered absently as he continued to watch the birthing process.
Just then the woman, Susan, gasped as her child slid into the world.
"It's a girl," the nurse announced as she held the squalling infant up so that the new mother could see her daughter.
'That child is my future Queen,' Jareth thought surprised that the little girl who was now being held by her mother would ever have a will that would be as strong and as stubborn as his.
"What will you name her?" the nurse asked Susan.
"She's not mine to name," Susan said as she cradled the tiny infant.
"She's been put up for adoption. But for the birth records her name will be Kathleen Rose."
The nurse nearly dropped the birthing supplies in shock at the young mother's declaration.
"But why?" the nurse asked stunned.
"I am twenty-years-old, unmarried, and I'm scared," Susan said glaring at the nurse.
The nurse glared at the young woman who still held her infant daughter close to her chest.
"You can leave whenever you want," the nurse snapped as she took the child away from her mother and put her into a bassinet before wheeling the bassinet to the nursery where other nurses could monitor the child's health.
Susan watched with a heavy heart as her tiny daughter was wheeled out of the room before breaking down in tears. Jareth was surprised that his future wife was to be adopted and not raised by her biological mother but then again the mother was little more than a child herself. Jareth shook his head in despair as he saw the nurse tell the other nurses in the nursery that the baby, she had brought in, was going to be adopted causing all the nurses to shake their heads in disgust and put the child in a far corner of the room to forget about her. Sighing Jareth let the crystal disappear before vanishing and reappearing in the nursery in the hospital next to the infant's bassinet. The infant stirred, opened her eyes, and stared directly up at him. Carefully he picked her up and cradled her against his chest in strong but gentle arms. Just then he noticed another nurse come in and move in between the other bassinets checking on the other babies. With a sigh Jareth laid his future Queen back in her bassinet. She started fussing causing Jareth to quickly conjure a crystal and make it dance on his hands. Slowly the baby drifted off to sleep. The nurse never noticed a thing not even looking in the direction of Kathleen Rose instead focusing on the children who were not being put up for adoption. Sighing again Jareth laid the crystal next to the child before vanishing from the nursery before any of the nurses could discover him there.
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Somewhere in the Goblin Kingdom 1990
The seer, Cassandra, lifted her head in triumph as she felt the first part of the prophecy come true. The child had been born and was going to live in a happy home filled with love, laughter, and hope.