The Curse

Summary: When a tiny stone-flipping brownie holds a grudge against the champion of the Labyrinth, madness ensues. Jeremy gets a nasty surprise, Robert receives a strange phone call, Sarah happily babysits and Jareth gets drawn unwillingly into the middle of it all and is forced to perform damage control. Small brownie... Great upheavals of epic proportions.

(A/N): This is completely unrelated to my other labyfics.

~THE CURSE~

"Hey! What goes on? Pasta vazoo is a-writing on the fragging walk-walk! YOUR MOTHER IS A FRAGGIN' AARDVARK!" The tiny brownie shook its clenched fist in the air, as the female giant walked on – not paying any attention to or perhaps not hearing the small brownie's angry cry – and the brownie collected the ancient magic of the Labyrinth surrounding it, by drawing energy from the sun that hit its brown and wrinkly skin for the first time in a decade. It would make sure that the fraggin' giant who wrote on the walk-walks and disturbed its precious sleep would pay for it!

ENGLAND

As Jeremy woke that morning in the gigantic four poster bed in his London flat, he felt bloody awful! He had a pounding headache, his throat was sore, his sight groggy from sleep and the world was spinning. He concluded mentally, that he suffered from a severe case of hangover.
Judging by the empty space beside him, his lover through eight years had risen early. He stretched his aging bones and took that as a cue to get out of bed himself.

He stumbled into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water and took a much needed aspirin. He was brewing coffee as he heard the patter of little feet in the hall. Wait a minute… many little feet with – long nails?

"What is that? Have you kidnapped old Mr. Hudson's cat again, my dear?"

"Linda?" he called out as no answer came. He figured she must have gone to the bathroom. As the scratching sound of four clawed feet came closer, Jeremy's curiosity peeked. He sipped his near-scalding coffee and leant over the mahogany lined kitchen island to see the intruding animal. If he had expected Mr. Hudson's pathetic looking orange tomcat with patches of missing fur, then he was taken greatly by surprise.

He spit out his hot coffee all over his white tiled floor and emitted a high pitched sound (later he would passionately deny it to be a scream). "An… an anteater?"

He wiped his brow and ran his fingers through his thick straw colored hair. "I really, really shouldn't have had that last shot of tequila!" He ran over to the kitchen sink and splashed cold water in his face in a desperate attempt to cool down his feverish imagination. It simply couldn't be real, could it?

He heard more scratching sounds and decided to arm himself with a rolling pin in case the animal wasn't friendly. He slowly inched his way closer to the exotic animal that stared at him with wide blue eyes. Weird, Jeremy thought, I had no idea that anteaters had blue eyes. The color actually reminds me of Linda's… Jeremy laughed at his own foolishness, but he nervously kept an eye on the strange animal in his kitchen. "What the devil is something like you doing in our flat?" he asked it quietly. The animal grunted in response. To Jeremy it almost seemed as if the little bugger understood him. It's worth a shot Jeremy thought to himself and posed it a question. "Do you understand me?" it grunted again. Jeremy was taken aback for a second, but then logic took over. Perhaps it had been circus trained. "Grunt three times," he ordered it. It did. "Oh dear," he chuckled.

"Linda won't believe this!" he added in an awed tone. "This is just like a scene from one of her fairytales!" He called her name again, but as she still did not answer, he went to look for her. "Do not move an inch!" he ordered the very confused animal.

Jeremy ran his fingers through his hair for the fourth time that hour. Linda was not to be found in the flat, but he had magically acquired an anteater overnight? The world just didn't make sense anymore. Normally when Linda went out, she would leave him a note – but how could she have left the flat without him noticing and how could the anteater have found its own way to the flat at the topmost floor of the building? He deliberately banged his head against the dining room table rapidly as the anteater drank milk out of a bowl next to him on the floor. Apparently it liked milk just as well as ants.

When Jeremy had stopped banging his head in despair – because it didn't help on his pounding headache from yesterday's party – he absentmindedly stroked the creature's coarse fur in search for consolation. "I have no idea whether you have got rabies or something, but I bloody well don't care!" An unwanted thought nagged in the back of his mind: what if Linda had left him? Run away? She had left Robert less than a decade ago and Robert was a pretty decent blighter. They even had a child together. What prevented her from leaving him as well?

The man from the RSPCA was due at any minute now – thank God that the building concierge was a man of few questions. Without him, Jeremy wouldn't have had a clue about what to do.

"Where the deuce is she?" he cried in despair. The animal had to have something to do with her disappearance. Maybe she hadn't left, maybe she had been kidnapped and the anteater was a… was a… He was unable to continue that line of thought. Unlike his stepdaughter, Sarah, Jeremy's imagination was limited.

"Mr. Stevens?" the man from the RSPCA read aloud from the note in his hand and then looked surprised at Jeremy. "You're him, aren't you? You're Jeremy Stevens, the actor!" Jeremy smiled politely, but didn't answer. "I'm here for the animal," the man said and Jeremy led him to the dining room. The man dropped the plastic cage in his hand as well as his jaw. "Blimey! How on earth did you find an aardvark, Mr. Stevens?"

Jeremy looked at the creature at his feet. "Oh, that's what it is! I thought it was an anteater." He shook his head. "And it found me, not the other way around." As the man tried to approach the aardvark it shimmied closer to Jeremy and practically wrapped itself around his leg.

AMERICA

"Robert darling. It's for you," Karen said visibly agitated. Robert Williams rose from the breakfast table and kissed Karen's cheek as he passed her on his way to the phone in the hall. Just as Karen resumed her seat, Sarah happily bounced down the stairs and chirped a heartfelt, "Good morning, Karen!" She grabbed a toast from the table and flung herself into the chair next to Toby's high chair. "Good morning to you as well," Sarah said and tousled her younger brother's flaxen hair.

Karen studied her with obvious surprise and distrust. But mainly surprise.

"Where's Daddy? Doesn't he have the day off?" Sarah asked pleasantly. Karen, who had no idea how to respond to this new and more agreeable version of her stepdaughter or how long she would stay that way, replied in a cautious voice. "He's on the phone." Sarah shrugged and took a bite of her toast. "Oh. Okay."

"Jeremy, Jeremy, calm down! What is it?" Robert demanded alarmed.
"Excuse me. Could you repeat that? I would have sworn you said you had found an aardv-… Ah. You did say that. How on earth…? Oh. Oh. I see. No. No, I haven't got a clue as to where she could've gone. Wait a minute! Have you tried calling her mother in Ireland? You have. How long has she been missing for?" Robert asked his ex-wife's British lover over the phone.

"Uh-huh. The police won't begin to search for her until 24 hours have passed. No. Wouldn't she have left a note if she'd gone shopping? No… okay." There was an awkward pause – they both knew that Robert couldn't delay posing the dreaded question any longer. What if the flamboyant Linda had left Jeremy as she once had left him? "Are any of her things gone?" Robert asked him tentatively. If she'd left him, then Robert could sympathize with the Briton – he had himself been in that position not so long ago. His wounds had not healed entirely yet and the pain of being left all alone with a young kid in need of at least one stable parent was still fresh.

"Oh. Well, if nothing is missing, then she probably meant to come back." Robert said with conviction in his voice.

THE UNDERGROUND

Jareth the Goblin King first noticed the shift in the Labyrinth's magic, as he was rearranging the staircases in the twisted Escher room Sarah Williams' subconscious had created – he couldn't bring himself to destroy it. He actually found it to be a refreshing new addition to his castle. Maybe the goblins would leave him in peace in here – they always did possess a peculiar attachment to gravity.
He transported himself outside to the stony part of the maze, and rested his flat palm against the wall. He followed the tangible thread of magic back to the culprit – Ah! The grumpy old brownie! What the devil could he want to hex? Jareth mused, as he closed his eyes and followed the incantation until he found the victim.

As Jareth's eyes fluttered open at the revelation, he couldn't help but squeeze the bridge of his nose. "This means I have to pay that insolent brat another visit," he sighed and stomped in frustration.

He caressed the wall beneath his hand lovingly. "I will be gone for a short while," he said and disappeared in a twirl of glitter.

AMERICA

Sarah noticed the weary expression on her father's face, as he sat beside her on the living room couch. "What is the matter, Dad?" she asked. Maybe she could help him with whatever it was that bothered him. She'd just conquered a magical maze, for God's sake!
Robert took a deep breath and asked her whether she had heard something from her mother recently. Sarah narrowed her eyes in thought, but could not remember any phone call or card from her mother the last month or so. "No, not since she and Jeremy returned from Italy. Why are you asking?" she added curiously.
Robert weighed the pros and cons in his head. Maybe he should tell her of her mother's sudden disappearance; Karen was right, Sarah did seem more balanced and less mercurial than yesterday. She hadn't even shouted or complained yet, and it was soon mid-day – wonders never cease, Robert figured.

"Well, to be frank, honey… The call earlier was from Jeremy; he was concerned because he hadn't heard from your mother since yesterday night, but don't worry – she probably just went out this morning and forgot to leave a note," he tried to reassure her. Sarah didn't know how to respond.

"You know how dramatic Jeremy is … just like your mother … he's overreacting of course. She's probably back by now," Robert petted Sarah's hand.

"Do you think she has left him?" Sarah asked Robert, "or do you think she was taken by someone?" or something. Could the goblins have taken her out of spite? No, that couldn't be, Sarah thought to herself, I beat the labyrinth and won Toby back fair and square… But life isn't fair, Sarah.

Robert noticed how his defiant daughter's facial expression went from being sad and confused to being strong and composed. With her chin stuck out in a gesture of determination and pride, and her eyes blazed with emotion, Robert couldn't help but wonder: what had happened to his little girl?

"I'm sure she's completely fine, honey. We'll probably hear again from Jeremy soon."

AMERICA – LATER

Like the night before, Karen and Robert Williams had a dinner date and Sarah was left at home to babysit. But, curiously enough (to her father and stepmother anyway) Sarah didn't mind it at all today. But who were they to question miracles?

As they went, Sarah sat cross legged on the living room floor opposite the chuckling baby and they rolled a small ball back and forth between them, as she talked to him. "What do you think about it all, Toby? I hope the goblins haven't kidnapped my mom." She gasped. "Do you think Jeremy wished the goblins would – you know – ?" Sarah continued the line of thought as she took the focus off the ball. "Maybe… maybe he didn't want to run the Labyrinth and accepted His crystal instead…" As she said this, her attention shifted to the sudden tension in the room. As the ball once more rolled across the floor to Sarah, she noticed it had changed. Into a crystal.

"I can assure you, that you were the first and the only who were ever offered one."

In the place where Toby had sat, was now an exhausted looking Goblin King – still dressed in a white feathered cape – cradling an infant dressed in striped pajamas in his arms.

"Give him back!" Sarah said in a menacing tone and got up, acting on pure shock and adrenaline. "He isn't yours to take. I won him back!"

Jareth took a deep breath,and answered in a calm, but pained voice. "Yes. Yes you did." He threw the chuckling baby into the air and, by a snap of Jareth's fingers, Toby disappeared.

"What have you done to him?" Sarah shouted and ran closer to Jareth and began to beat his chest. Jareth caught her wrists with a steel grip and pushed her away. Jareth dusted his clothes off, as if he could clean them from Sarah's presence.

"I have not come to take your precious babybrother away from you, foolish girl!" he scoffed quietly. "He is safe and asleep in his own bed."

"Then why are you here? Your goblins have taken my mother, haven't they?" Sarah inquired. "You don't expect me to run the Labyrinth again do you? Or are the rules different when it's an adult and not an infant? I swear if Jeremy did this I will kick his butt next time I see him! Can I even run the Labyrinth again? Oh no, I'm only wearing socks! You need to let me put on my lucky loafers before I can go anywhere!"

Jareth had cleared his throat VERY loudly several times, but the girl had merely continued to rant.

"I hope my mom is okay. You didn't harm her, did you? What is happening? Are you doing this for revenge? Why are you taking it out on her? Leave my mom alone, Goblin King!" Sarah hyperventilated.

"Would you please shut up FOR. JUST. ONE. SECOND?" The Goblin King shouted at the blabbering teenager. Sarah was struck dumb and Jareth smiled for the first time that visit. "Aaah. Much better. It usually works on the goblins – I wouldn't have expected it to work on you as well."

Sarah was about to burst out with another rant about what had happened to her mother and Jareth's involvement, but Jareth managed to cover her mouth with his gloved hand.

"Shush child! Still taking things for granted, I see," Jareth said with a disappointment obvious in his voice. "Neither myself nor my goblins have done anything to your mother. But it would seem that you acquired an enemy amongst my subjects during your run."

Jareth noticed when Sarah's face turn from being pink in humiliation, to being red in determination and anger. If Jareth hadn't been so damned tired he would have laughed at the sight. Though, as he studied her beautiful pair of green eyes, he less than thirteen hours ago had called sad, he couldn't help but admire the cruel and stubborn glint within them. She was thinking very quickly (Who was the enemy? Could she trust Jareth? How could she get her mother back?). That much was obvious from her flickering eyes. Somewhere – somehow – inside the brat before him, there was the soul of the fighter who conquered the Labyrinth (and his heart). If only he could get access to that soul! If only she could be less… well, less of a brat, really.

He felt Sarah growing weak in her knees, and saw her face turning slightly blue from lack of air.

He decided to magic a chair behind her and subsequently let go of her mouth.

"Will you listen now?" he asked her roughly.

Sarah landed in her father's plush armchair and gasped for air. Jareth took that as a "yes".

"During your run, when you were in the stony parts of the Labyrinth, you encountered some small brownies who turned the stones you marked with your lipstick, yes?" Sarah nodded quietly. "Well, it would seem you woke up the Archbrownie from his hibernation – and he felt vindictive," Jareth felt his lips curl into a small smirk.

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "What did he do?" she asked dangerously.

Jareth studied his gloved hands – bracing himself for the outburst he knew she would come with soon. "It cursed your mother."

"What!?" Sarah (who had regained all her air) yelled disbelievingly and jumped up from her seat. Sarah paced the room. "Please take me to her!" she pleaded, making puppy eyes at Jareth.

Jareth smiled in a detached fashion and conjured a crystal within the palm of his right hand. "I've brought you a gift."

Sarah strolled closer to him and looked searchingly at the alluring crystal. She narrowed her eyes once more and smiled back at him with a sad smile. "At what price?"

"Toby?" Jareth ventured innocently. Sarah's eyes flashed with anger and she grabbed the nearest thing to bash his head in with. The effect wasn't quite what Sarah had aimed for, since it was a plastic vase filled with lilies that had seen better days. Jareth chuckled and shrugged. "It was worth a try."

Sarah saw the mischievous glint in his eyes and hit his chest with intent. Jareth snapped and caught her wrist. "Hit me once more and I will not answer for the consequences. And I most certainly won't help you cure your mother…" he drifted off.

"At. What. Price. You. Glittery. Jerk?"

Jareth tapped his lips with his free hand while pretending to mull things over. "Ah," he exclaimed. "I know. I will grant you your wish to see your mother, if you promise to come to the Labyrinth and stay until you and your traitor friends have repaired the damage you have caused during your run."

Sarah took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes skeptically, as she mulled things over. It seemed a fair exchange for his help rescuing her mother. She could possibly have damaged that much as she conquered the Labyrinth…

"Deal!" said Sarah and put out her hand, waiting for the Goblin King to shake it. "If you take me to my mother and help me save her from the curse, then I will return to the Labyrinth until I have repaired all that I have damaged."

Jareth smirked and shook her hand once. Sarah looked down at their joined hands as she felt a strange warmth radiating from Jareth's otherwise very cold grasp. She gasped as she saw glittering strands of magic entwining their connected hands. "You can't go back on your promise now," Jareth said with a small smile, inwardly rejoicing in the fact that he managed to persuade Sarah to clean up her own mess.

Sarah cocked her head a little to the side and tried to read his intentions from the look in his eyes. She was convinced that tilting her head would make it easier to understand him. It didn't, naturally.

"I know. What's said is said," Sarah deadpanned in her best imitation of Jareth.

Jareth chuckled, but quickly covered it up by coughing. He couldn't let her have the satisfaction of knowing she could make her antagonist snicker.

The magic band connecting them lit up as Sarah smiled. Its glowing intensified until it blinded them both and eventually burst. Sarah, who had covered her eyes with her free hand, slowly removed it.

"What was that?" she exclaimed in a shrill voice and released her firm grip on Jareth's hand. "That was a promise, little girl," Jareth answered smugly. "Neither of us can go back on our promise now. The marks on your wrist will stay as a sign of your obligation to me and to the Underground, and it won't fade away until you have fulfilled your promise." Sarah studied her wrist – the magic had left a pattern that resembled a vine encircling her lower wrist ending in a small circle at the bottom of her palm. A crystal ball, she imagined. She decided very quickly to hide it from Karen's vigilant eyes. Her stepmother would throw a fit if she thought she had a tattoo.

Sarah briefly wondered what Jareth's wrist looked like, but forgot to ask. It wasn't important.

Jareth, once again, conjured a crystal into his palm. "It's a crystal nothing more, but if you turn it this way it will take you to your mother."

"After we have rescued my mother I suggest we go to the Underground to kick that Archbrownie's butt," Sarah decided as she reached out for the crystal.

"Are you aware of how amazingly eloquent you are?" Jareth asked her sarcastically.

ENGLAND

Sarah and the Goblin King arrived in a twirl of glitter. Thankfully there was nobody around them to notice.

Sarah let go of the crystal and looked around, scanning the room for any sign of her mother. But it was dark and Sarah was unable to see anything. "Where are we?" she asked her traveling companion. Jareth turned a crystal ball in his hand and raised it into the air. The crystal bathed the room in soft light, which enabled Sarah to discover that they were surrounded by animal cages. And judging by the gentle snoring from said cages, Sarah guessed that they were all asleep.

"My mother's curse turned her into a vet?" Sarah joked, but panic filled her eyes. Jareth shook his head. "Please, please, pleeease tell me she is not one of those animals!" When Jareth didn't respond, Sarah guessed that she was right.

Sarah quietly called out for her mother as she moved from cage to cage. A gentle meow directed her attention to a big, black, cat-like creature. "Mom?" she asked and turned the key in the lock. It approached her slowly. "It is you, isn't it?" she asked uncertainly.
But suddenly the creature seemed more like a wild beast than a domestic cat and it had decided to prey on her.

Jareth grabbed Sarah's shoulders forcefully as the animal flung itself at her, and he swung her away. He magicked the beast back into the cage and the beast threw itself against the bars in frustration of losing a delectable meal. It looked determinedly in Sarah's direction and licked its lips with its small, coarse tongue. Jareth stepped in front of Sarah and sneered at the beast.

The beast drew back into its cage while making a pathetic growl back.

Jareth stared at the cage for a long time as Sarah gathered her wits. It probably wasn't her mother, then.

"What were you thinking?" Jareth inquired in a malicious low tone, without turning to face her. "Never ever take anything for granted! Not even in this world!" He growled at her. "Foolish girl!"

Sarah almost wanted to ask: "Why do you care about my safety?" But the thing that hindered her from asking was the part of her that was very aware of why he cared. She had not been able to handle the reason the day before, why should she be able to handle it now?

When Jareth turned toward her, he was panting heavily, and a storm of emotion was visible in his eyes – it was the only part of his face he wasn't able to disguise as being calm.

"I had expected more from you, Sarah. You haven't learned anything from your trip to the Labyrinth."

Sarah had originally meant to thank him for rescuing her her, but his words hurt her enough to prompt her to stay silent. "Why do you care about his words, Sarah?" she asked herself, but a part of her knew the answer to that as well.

"Let's just find my Mom…" Sarah said quietly.

Jareth's jaw twitched and his eyes hardened.

They walked between the cages for a while before Sarah had pulled her courage together. "Thank you. For helping me," she breathed cautiously.

Jareth simply nodded. To be honest, he was not master enough of his own voice to reply. He had been under great emotional strain the last couple of days and Sarah's reckless endangerment of herself was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Wait a minute," Sarah said and stopped walking abruptly. "I know those eyes!" Jareth watched silently as she crouched down in front of a cage of a certain blue eyed aardvark. She looked at him over her shoulder. "This animal has my mother's eyes. It's her isn't it?"

Jareth inclined his head.

She put her fingers between the bars and the confused animal approached and rubbed its coarse chin. "Hey Mom. I've been worried about you," she cooed as she opened the cage and gathered the creature in her arms.

She turned toward Jareth with a sad smile on her lips. "Jareth, I would like you to meet my mother Linda. Mom, this is Jareth," she said and lifted the aardvark in his direction.

Jareth's lip curled in amusement. He raised his eyebrows as he found himself shaking the proffered clawed paw, professing himself "delighted."
It was indeed unexpected. But who was he kidding? He saw stranger things daily – it came with the job.

"How can I cure her? What can break the spell?" Sarah asked herself, knowing that Jareth probably couldn't save her mother. "Don't sell yourself short, Sarah, you know how. You are the fairy tale expert here, remember?" Jareth said and smiled at her.

"Why are you helping me?" She asked him quietly. "Why are you being so… generous?"

A day before, her calling him "generous" would have elicited a gleeful exclamation like: "HA! You admit it!" But today he was weary and humble. A combination he ardently despised.

"Because, despite everything that has happened and everything that will happen, the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl."

Sarah was struck dumb. Sarah couldn't reply to that. Not now. Jareth knew that. So he broke the tension by joking.

"Besides, when you realized the amount of damage you have caused in the Labyrinth, you won't think me generous any longer," he quipped.

A small smile appeared on Sarah's lips, but she could not bear look at him, so she focused on the aardvark in her arms instead.

As she pondered what Jareth's love for her might entail, she got a revelation. "That's it! The cure must be a true love's kiss!" she exclaimed happily and kissed his cheek in sheer excitement. This probably wasn't wise, considering what he just had confessed to her. His eyes turned dark and both his pupils were dilated all of a sudden.

She hated feeling like a coward, but today she had felt constantly like one and now was not an exception. She looked down at her mother once more. "Does an aardvark even have a mouth, anyway?" she mumbled.

She could hear Jareth breathing deeply and wondered what he felt.

A couple of minutes later Jareth had composed himself enough to offering her a crystal. "Where to?" he asked and Sarah told him that they were going to see Jeremy.

He waited for her to reach out for the crystal, but when she didn't, he looked at her nervous face. She was biting her bottom lip, contemplating something.

"When we are finished encouraging interspecific smooching, would you maybe then consider coming back to my place and talk for a bit? We could share a tub of ice cream?" she asked in a shaking voice. "Come on, it's triple chocolate," she offered him smilingly.

"I… would like that," he swallowed his pride and accepted the friendly gesture and momentary truce. His face displayed his awe and vulnerability for a very short moment, until a mischievous goblin-esque look took its place. "But how about going kicking that's Archbrownie's butt first?"

Jareth was trilled in discovering the cruel glint appearing once more in those lovely green eyes.

"Jareth, I think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship."

(A/N): If you can't see the Casablanca reference, then I won't tell you where it is.
This story was meant to be called "Fraggin' Aardvark" but that would have been waaaay to obvious :)

Don't own Labyrinth nor the RSPCA nor the quote from Casablanca nor any aardvarks (thankfully).

I wonder why nobody has thought of writing about Linda as an aardvark before? LOL