Hey guys. : This is my first official, on display fan fiction that I'm currently writing--just little snippets here and there, you know the drill.
Before I forget, I should add: Yes, I love commentary and suggestions. And, I do reply. :
And, of course, Labyrinth is property of Jim Henson. If Jareth and the Goblin Realm were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction about them. The song lyrics reprinted are property of Nightwish, mostly though to Tuomas. :
I hope you enjoy this story. : I should update often.
THE END
The songwriter's dead.
The blade fell upon him
Taking him to the white lands
of empathica,
of innocence
Empathica
Innocence
--"The Poet and the Pendulum", Nightwish
"You have no power over me."
The words echoed throughout his head. How could she…? How could he have been so foolish as to misplace it? How could she have possibly memorized an entire manuscript of such great importance?
And how could he have been so foolish as to have let one of the crystals leave his power? Burying his head in his hands, Jareth sunk into the Time Clock Ruins--quite literally--and found himself in the throne room. Everything was still there, the clock, the wine barrel, everything. How could it all have stayed?
"Jareth." and he looked up. A tall, deathly-blue pale woman stood in front of him, her dark hair flowing around her like ebony silk. "Jareth, we need to talk."
"And of what importance is that?" He spat, feeling his words fill with venom and hate. "You know what will happen, Delphina, you know. You warned me about this when I misplaced the manuscript, you warned me about challenging her, you warned me about everything because you knew that I--", he sputtered, "--I."
The king failed to end his statement. The woman's eyes narrowed, slanting even more to her pointed nose. "The sooner the better." She sighed. "What you did will..."
"It could destroy us."
Sarah woke up, her head pounding. She couldn't possibly forget what had happened last night, but it all seemed as if it were a dream.
She hit the ground rolling and wrapped her bedspread around her frame. The little red book, with its silver and gold embossed cover still sat on her desk calling her to open it again. No, she said to herself, there is no way that I will allow you to get sucked up into that again. Her hair was oily, not a good sign. Usually she took a shower at night, but the circumstances of her arrival home last night were so odd that she had fallen asleep as her friends tidied up her room.
Grabbing a fresh skirt and blouse, Sarah rushed into the bathroom. She quickly took a shower no time to do anything with her hair and grabbed her backpack. Karen shoved a piece of toast in her mouth on her way to the bus stop. Sarah mushily said her thanks and ran.
Not a bad end for a Sunday afternoon. She thought, grinning to herself. She sat in the seat right behind the bus driver, as usual. Not many friends to speak of save the one or two in English. She slunk down into her seat, hair ruffling up and skirt wrinkling. The bus driver looked up through a bad bouffant at Sarah. "You don't have that little red book with you." She said, ever smiling.
Sarah shook her head. "Not today. I've had enough to do with that book. For a long, long time." She added, nervously scraping the skin off her thumb. The bus driver chuckled. "Nothing like a good book, until it sets you off the edge."
Right. Off the edge. Well, it definitely did that.
He stared into the globe. "There were five." He stated pointedly, "And there were five as of last night."
"Right. And that doesn't count the one that she broke, or the one you seem to have 'misplaced'." Delphina counted them off on her fingers. "That leaves three, Jareth. You can't afford to have only three crystals. You can't afford to let them know you only have two left." She chided, her voice growing slightly nasty. "Technically, you shouldn't have even put one into that damned book of yours."
"Yeah, a book that you wrote." He scoffed, snorting at the woman. She blinked, her mouth open for a rebuttal. "And don't even try to deny that you wrote it." She furrowed her eyes at him. "You still shouldn't have put a crystal in it."
"I was young! I was foolishly in love with the human world!" he droned, waving his hand in the air. "Besides, it was buried in some dusty bookstore. Nobody should have found it. Nobody found the other that escaped, and he wasn't even my fault. That was yours, and you know damn well that you didn't cover your tracks as well as I did."
She glowered. "You have already damaged three of your crystals, and I haven't even lost one. You've refused to even tell me where you lost the latest one."
Jareth clenched his fist. "I…I lost control."
"Miss Williams! I don't ever recall sleeping being allowed in my classroom, and I definitely don't allow it now! Right before Christmas, when a student of your caliber…"
Sarah rubbed her eyes. She had fallen asleep again. I must have used more energy than I thought.
"YOU WHAT?"
Jareth hid his face in his hands. "You heard me. I…I lost control." He stated, gritting his teeth together.
Delphina started to pace the small room. "Jareth, how could you have lost control? I taught you better! Your magic--"
"My magic was of no use against her! You cannot have expected me to try and--"
"Yes! Yes, I do! Hell, even when one escaped from me, I managed to keep my cool! Jareth, this is bad. This is really, really terrible. Do you have any idea what you did?"
Jareth took a breath. Honestly, he had no idea. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Loosing the crystals was bad enough, he knew that. He could already see the world fuzzing up around the corners of his eyes. He took another deep breath, letting it out shakily. "N-no, I don't. Honestly, I don't."
"Honey. Honey, wake up. You're at your stop."
It was the bus driver, shaking her to her senses. Sarah rubbed her eyes and grabbed her backpack. Right, asleep again. "You okay?" the woman asked, patting her on her shoulder. "I've never seen you like this before."
Sarah faked a small smile. She was tired, and honestly could just use the sleep. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little sleepy, that's all." She nimbly tapped down the stairs and off onto her front lawn. Waving at the bus driver, she walked up the steps and into the house. Dropping her backpack, she whistled for Merlin. He didn't come.
"Merrrrrrrrrrrrrlin." She cooed, slapping her palm on her jeans. "Merlin, here boy."
"I don't appreciate being called that."