The Labyrinth of London
A Sherlock/Labyrinth Crossover
Goblin Mourning
Inspired By
"The Thin White Sleuth…"
By
Pika-la-Cynique
The Almighty Disclaimer
Oh Moffat and Gatiss,
Henson and Doyle,
To you belongs all the characters
And none so for me!
Summary: A goblin is killed and Jareth is, of course, called to investigate.
A/N: While I write "The Blonde Babe", here is a little drabble when Sarah sees a more vulnerable Jarerth.
&%&%&%
Sarah heard Jareth punch the wall in his bedroom. Running out of her bedroom, she saw that his hand was dusty and bleeding. Several thoughts ran through her head. Why was he punching a wall? He actually takes off those gloves? Well, he took off those gloves before but… still. He always wears them. I knew he could get hurt, but I didn't think his blood would look like mine. I was expecting green or something. Are those swords in that corner over there?
"Why did you just attack that innocent wall Jareth?"
The accused brushed the dust off his hand. "A goblin has been killed."
"Oh… Jareth… what do…."
"Just get dressed. Lestrade is on the case and Rossetti is already there."
&%&%&%
Jareth did not put a glove on his injured hand, though he did have it with him. Sarah watched the bare hand with some fascination. There were scars on them, not many, but anything more than zero was beyond what Sarah imagined. He had stopped bleeding, but Sarah wondered that if a former goblin king could bleed that he might also be able to get an infection.
Sarah put on latex gloves (if goblins could bleed, they could also infect) and then held Jareth's hand. There were callouses, which Sarah did not expect either.
"When I was six years old, one of the boys I went to school with fell off a tall slide and scraped up his hands and knees. I helped the playground attendant by holding the antiseptic cream and Band-Aids until she needed it. It was the first time I really felt useful."
Jareth flexed his newly healed hand. Sarah removed her gloves and put them in a plastic bag for hazardous waste disposal. When Sarah looked back at Jareth, he had a similar emotion on his face that he had when she asked him to spare the cabbie. I really need to know what that means.
He looked away before he spoke. "There has not been a goblin death in thirty-nine years. Some of the children the Goblin Kingdom receives are given to Fae families. Others are turned into goblins. All of those goblins were children once, mostly from terrible homes. As goblins, they can almost never be hurt, let alone killed. As you saw, they can be smashed into the shape of a dinner plate and still walk away. Whoever did commit this murder is from the Underground and has strong magic. This is an act of war against the Goblin Kingdom."
"What will the Goblin King do?" Sarah asked.
"We have to know who did this first and Rossetti will act accordingly," Jareth said.
"Where do you fall in all of this?"
"I do not know, but I will not let this stand."
&%&%&%
The murder was by a school, apparently one with Fae children that the goblins sometimes watched over. Outside, the Goblin King was wearing a great fur coat and hat but Sarah could see that Rossetti was wearing a modern business suit instead of some of the more outlandish outfits the Goblin King was known to wear. Goblins were huddled around her, shaking from the cold, though they too had little fur coats.
"Jareth! You slimy nosed worm! Where have you been?" Rossetti said.
Jareth popped up his coat collar and stuck his hands into his pockets. "I came as soon as I could."
The Goblin King grabbed Jareth's scarf and pulled it so that it acted as a lasso. "Find out who did this, you foul rat, and I might not cut off your limbs."
"Of course," Jareth said, seemingly unconcerned that he was unable to breathe properly.
Rossetti released her grip and smoothed Jareth's scarf. "Good. Come on then. They won't let me near the place."
Jareth escorted the Goblin King, their arms interlocked. Sarah watched them until they turned around the corner. She felt a tug at her jeans.
"We miss Slider," a small goblin, the size of a grown man's fist, said.
Sarah crouched down to look the goblin in the eye. "I know you do. What's your name?"
"Zinger," the small goblin said.
"What do the lot of you want to do?" Sarah asked.
"Monkey bars!" they all shouted.
"They were Slider's favorite!" Zinger said.
&%&%&%
Sarah was hanging upside down on the monkey bars while goblins climbed around her when Lestrade walked up to her. He bent to the side to look her in the eye. "What are you doing, Ms. Williams?"
"Looking at things from a different perspective," Sarah said, "and you can call me Sarah."
"Well, Sarah, can I talk with you like a normal person for a moment?" Lestrade asked.
The goblins gave a sound of protest but Sarah shushed them and climbed down. She tugged down at her clothes and smiled politely at the detective. "How may I help you inspector?"
Lestrade started walking towards the school. "I wanted to ask you how Jareth is doing."
"He's fine far as I can tell. Upset about this, obviously."
The two of them leaned against a brick wall, watching the goblins play. "Has he said anything… odd?"
Sarah shrugged. "Jareth is an odd duck."
"I hate working with the Underground royalty. I can't run my crime scene properly. The Goblin King pulled some strings and now she's acting like she owns the place."
"Sorry, but I can't do anything to help."
"Not expecting you to. Just needed to whine like the child that I am."
They were silent for a few moments.
"I think this is going to be yet another one of those types of cases we can't let him near," Lestrade said. He took out a coffee stirrer and chewed on it. Trying to quit smoking. Poor guy misses it.
"What types of cases? Does he mess with evidence?" Sarah asked.
Lestrade shook his head. "Worse. He is more careful than we are with evidence. He wants as must justice as he can scrape up… until it doesn't end up how he likes. We don't allow him near kids' cases. He gets… wrathful. Not just angry but like Biblical wrath of God stuff. We've almost lost several guilty ones before we could stop Jareth."
"Why do you suppose that is?" Sarah asked.
Lestrade shrugged. "He says he never stole anything. He can only take what is freely given. One of those Fairy laws. He doesn't seem to care too much about our laws, but he does seem rather obsessed with those."
"What other cases is he not allowed on?" Sarah asked.
"The only ones we have to outright banned are… well…" The detective almost looked embarrassed. "He doesn't like it when a brunette girl with green eyes gets hurt."
Sarah was confused for a moment and then gave a simple "Oh" in response.
"What I'm saying is that you need to keep an eye on Jareth," Lestrade said, "He doesn't have the best temper and he might do something he'll… nah. He won't regret doing it but he'll regret the consequences."
"I'll keep that in mind inspector," Sarah said.
Jareth and the Goblin King came stalking out of the crime scene. Sarah saw for a moment the old Goblin King in Jareth. The arrogance, the anger, the general sense of "I can do whatever I desire and no one can stop me". But then Jareth was himself again. An angry version of himself, but it was still the man Sarah had known since becoming his flatmate.
"Gremlins," Jareth said.
"I doubt we will need your service again for this case," the Goblin King said, straightening her gloves, "Goblins, move out."
Lestrade was obviously angry but he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. Both the Goblin King and her court disappeared.
"Fae are going to be the death of me, particularly that one," Lestrade said.
Jareth shrugged. "She isn't, technically, a Fae. If that will be all Lestrade, I have business to attend to elsewhere."
"Jareth, don't you dare do anything stupid," Lestrade said.
Jareth grinned but said nothing.
I cannot live with the Goblin King. I need to do something to get him out of this foul mood.
&%&%&%
"Jareth, do you want to do something stupid?" Sarah asked as they sat in the back of a cab.
"Well…"
"Jareth, I am not going to be involved in some stupid revenge plot. I do, however, think you need to do something that is not permanently destructive. Besides, we could do something in honor of Slider."
Sarah was surprised when Jareth took her hand and kissed it. He had never touched her without explicit permission before and she felt kind of… wibbly wobbly when he did it.
Not that she would ever admit that.
"Thank you, Sarah."
"It's not a problem," Sarah said, shaking off whatever illness she was catching. "So, what do you want to do?"
&%&%&%
Two days later, Jareth received a phone call from Lestrade. "Did you put a silly string bomb in my office?"
"I can honestly say, Lestrade, that I did not put a silly string bomb in your office nor did I come up with such a brilliant plan."
Sarah felt amazingly pleased when he said that.
"If you didn't then who… no. Nah. She wouldn't. That little brat. How could I think for one moment… just, ignore this."
"Of course," Jareth said, "Donovan was kind enough to send me pictures already."
"Donovan! Donovan was…" The detective inspector hung up.
Jareth smiled. "I am sure Slider is very pleased right now about our antics."
"I think I like this version of mourning better," Sarah said, "It seems… healthier."
"I think so as well."
&%&%&%
A/N: I knew I wanted Sarah playing on the monkey bars with some goblins outside of a crime scene. The rest came as I was writing "The Blonde Babe" which will be out in a couple of days.