- Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest:
Love, hopeless love, my ardent soul encumbers:
Love, nightmare-like, lies heavy on my chest,
And weaves itself into my midnight slumbers!
- William S. Gilbert
Dislcaimer: I will only say this once, I do not own Labyrinth or it's characters. Except for some goblins that never appeared in the movie.
Today wasn't a good day, perhaps even worse than the time when the labyrinth had crumbled at the hands of a fifteen year old girl. And one with no magical properties at that! Just a human, one who had told a story that captivated the king of Goblin's heart, which had not pulsed in ages and had assumedly died long ago, and revived his humanity. It was this that had proved the obvious, though thoroughly scoffed at. The girl had some power, perhaps greater than most. That being a strong will and a golden voice, combined would create the ability to weave stories out of nothing, and reenact them with precise skill.
But as said before, today would not be a good day, and poor Thimbleweed was sure of it. Tugging nervously at the tips of scabbed fingers, he struggled to find the right words to announce to his beloved king the news that had recently been received from the scouts. Many other goblins would often tease him for being slow of speech, and speculated that perhaps he was the same in the mental aspect as well. Had they seen the many books that their counterpart would collect and hide in his small burrow, the innumerable titles of stories and alchemical theories crammed within withered yellow pages, then they would have known that Thimbleweed was in fact, smarter than them.
He just thought it'd be wiser to carefully place his words so as to not receive any crude punishment. Shuddering at the memory of being hung naked, upside down in the town square for days and often jeered at or beaten while he swayed helplessly, Thimbleweed ushered himself into the near empty courtroom his king often occupied.
Things had definitely changed since that girl had come, for his majesty no longer held enough motivation to even show a trace of his signature playboy attitude. Instead, he would spend his days in his castle, moping, staring out windows when he passed by one and mumbling incoherencies while clutching a crystal ball.
There had been questionable instances with those magical orbs he seemed, even now, so attached to. Like when one had floated idly away from its master, and to the nightmare goblin's stables. An image of the wretched girl cleansing herself within a bath flickered faintly within, and the goblins rushed to watch it, even as the image simply repeated the action of scrubbing hard on a surprisingly attractive neck.
His master had urges, very strong ones as he'd always watched closely to his precious crystals when the girl was bathing, changing clothes, preparing for bed, or sleeping. Thimbleweed knew this, because on occasion he'd been summoned by the goblin king, for no reason than to act as a sort of pike to keep his master from becoming too indulged in his fantasies. He was also not the only goblin forced to sit beside the twisted human born, but the others, though of questionable intellect, were smart enough to not go about bragging about what they happened to see from the corner of their unnaturally colored eyes. No, they had learned their proper places when Wartghram had spent a mite of a moment explaining in detail of the girl's first orgasmic experience, of being kissed and caressed by a boy she'd so long admired for his stunning acting skills and sharp, but incredibly handsome looks. Not only had his majesty been infuriated beyond a soothing word's reach, but he was mad with jealousy that it had not been he to have taken the girl, when he had for so long rightfully claimed the position.
All there was left of the stupid goblin, were his tight dwarf skin shoes that reeked of charred remains, a blue tunic with chains adorned with girlish butterfly charms and miniature plush toys, and the still quivering hand that had been left of its own accord for years, having yet to figure out that its body was dead.
Thimbleweed shuddered once again, as the large hallway seemed to grow as he approached large horned doors near the end of it, surrounded by soft snickers and rude mimics of how he walked. "Poor widdle Fimbleweed, " a fellow goblin named Shoop cooed, faking a pout that made his tone sarcastic, "He wooks aawe sad!" Shoop's posse grunted in approval, shooting a devious grin that bore into the back of Thimbleweed's head, his steps began to feel heavier with each silent impact with the dirty ground.
The jeers continued, even as the gigantic iron doors to the throne room swung open, and even though there was a rush of silence when their king ordered for him to enter, he could still make out the faint snickers that seemed to stalk after him.
"Thimbleweed, "there was a slight rasp in his voice, another night had passed without any sleep obviously, "What news do you bring that was so urgent? I've been quite busy as of late."
The goblin resisted the urge to snort, but bit back his pride, instead raising his head to look at his king. The makeup that had once been placed so delicately around enigmatic green orbs, were smudged in such a sloppy manner, completely hiding the usual playful twinkle. Blonde strands now hung in dirty clumps of crusty yellow tufts, sickly pale skin, the man was clearly too sick mentally and emotionally over his broken heart. But Thimbleweed pressed on, wringing his hands nervously as the Goblin King stood up from his perch on his skull throne and approached him. "You've brought news from the surface?" The man asked the small goblin, "Perhaps … news of the lovely Sarah?"
A small drop of green blood emerged from a recent wound on Thimbleweed's tongue, as he bit into it. "Yes, m'lord. The Lady Sarah is in fact the reason of this sudden announcement…" He didn't continue on from there, pausing in faint hope that the king would dismiss him. It didn't happen like that.
Blonde hair seemed to rise in excitement, and suddenly his eyes twinkled with a glimmer that hadn't been there in years. What's worse is that the Goblin King seemed to lean forward in anticipation for Thimbleweed's next words. "And what, "A tongue flicked out to lick dry lips as the man said this, "Has happened to Sarah that would be crucial for my knowing?"
It seemed such a shame that that smile, that look would perhaps never emerge again after this… "M'lord, I'm afraid that Sarah will not be returning. Ever." The little goblin spoke with such finality, it surprised both the king and himself. "Lady Sarah-"
"-Is what?!" His king barked, cutting Thimbleweed off before he could spurt out the news. "She could have no other choice!! Her betrothed left her for some little blonde cunt and her at the alter! In this time of despair she'll have to return. SHE NEEDS ME, SHE-"
Thimbleweed returned the favor, this time cutting off his king, "That's the problem sir! SARAH IS DEAD."
What to say … whattosaywhattosaywhattosay … Uhm, let me remind people that this fanfiction is mostly focusing on Jareth and Toby. And I mean that in the most platonic way possible. ;D Toby will always be a baby to me, and Jareth … erm … well the point of this story is about him sort of changing … though not much. I guess you'll just have to see! –smile- Okay, so this is the first chapter to perhaps a very longish sort of drabble based story about Toby and Jareth. And don't worry, it's not slash in the least bit. It's more the close friendship that two people of the same gender can have that so few believe in anymore. So if you took your time to read this, thank you and expect more strangeness on the way… and longer chapters…
PS. Please don't get mad at me for killing Sarah! … honestly I don't like her, at least at the beginning of the movie. Too dramatic and seemed a little into herself… but in people's fanfictions and portrayals of her (especially from the Masquerade part…) she was okay. Lemme clear it up once more though, I didn't kill her completely. I just figured that Jareth would need change, and one way would be to get the object of his past affection dismissed. But that doesn't mean she won't … in a way … reappear once in a while. Hehe, you can interpret that as you want. Once again, thank you for reading! And expect more soon!