Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Labyrinth. Imagine that the audience was not privy to the whole story surrounding the movie. Perhaps there is more to the relationship between Jareth and Sarah...perhaps they met before. Please read and review. I remain as always confuzed1978.
Prologue
With a flash of snow tipped feather, the owl flies high and away from the human girl below. The eyes of the owl, one brown and one blue, are both wise and filled with unspent melancholy. Fast with wings spread, he arrives at the goblin palace plunging upward in the dark sky at the center of the labyrinth.
Talons stretch into toes and quills fade away, Jareth, the Goblin King, strides in his sinew beauty to his chambers. He passes many of his goblin subjects on the way to his room, ignoring all. The door is heavy, but in his torrid and tortured anger, he slams the door with force. He throws himself nude onto his bed.
He falls into a fitful slumber as he dreams of his dark haired love. Sarah…she is lost to him. In dreams, he sees the creaminess of her shoulders and swell of her soft breasts. In dreams, he is permitted to…
To wake so cruelly by the sound of footsteps entering his room, his eyes flash open and close as he recognizes the soft and familiar malevolency of the tiny feet dashing against the stone of his floor.
"Jareth, my lover," she croons, "You hath done as I bid."
Her sweet voice and face belie the twisted and evil mind beneath her rosy skin and blonde curls. Her lilac eyes gaze upon his well-made form and her insides tighten at the thought of having him inside of her.
She climbs upon the bed and strokes his strong back with her delicate hand. He rolls onto his back quickly and pushes her off of his bed with his body.
"Not tonight, Mavaldriel, your touch makes my skin crawl. Let one of the subjects fulfill your tainted desires tonight. Give me this night in peace. Tomorrow, I will start my imprisonment."
"Such a fool. Anyone in this kingdom and beyond would love to bed me. You are the tainted one, bewitched by that human girl. Be wary of how you treat me, Goblin King. I am the Queen of the realm far and wide. You shall bow to me or your whore shall pay for your sins. You may have some magic, but I am all powerful."
She hastily stands with her lilac eyes flashing as she straightens her gown. She pushes her curls behind her pointed ears.
"Sulk tonight, my King, tomorrow the contract is to be fulfilled."
She stalks out the room and leaves Jareth as his thoughts turn to Sarah.
You have no power over me. Sarah declared this mantra only hours before. If only she knew the power she held over him. Sighing in happiness, he bewitches his mind to fall back into time to the day he first felt her presence, a time two years hence.
His magic returned his love and Toby to the earthly realm where this time Sarah would only remember the evil of him. Hopefully it will be enough to keep her from ever wanting to return. This time…can I live without her?
Live he must for his death or failure to obey the constraints of Mavaldriel's price will result in a wretched curse upon Toby and Sarah. Safe with false memories above in the place where humans roam, she lives without him once again. Jareth turns his body and reaches into the chest next to his bed.
Withdrawing the long hollowed pipe made of beresh wood, his fingers find the small sack filled with jalandra root. His body may be forced to be bound to the evil pixie, but the root would ease his mind and allow him to float, his heart full of the spirit of his love. In his mind, he and Sarah intertwine delightfully, their love free and strong. He snaps his fingers and a spark lights the root he has already packed into the pipe.
Drawing on the pipe with his sensual lips, his eyes look past the confines of his room. A shiver starts at his center and runs its course throughout his body, just as the first day he noticed her. Smoke rises in tendrils as the herb begins to take effect.
Always, humans had held a fascination for Jareth. He often donned his feathered form and observed these beings from a distance. Beautiful, kind, cruel, mean, these beings were full of life. So different from the inhabitants of the Underground.
One evening before sunset, he overheard the sound of his future, a reckoning of change. Something, the deafening sound of silent tears perhaps, drew him to her. She was dressed in peasant garb much like the humans had dressed centuries before and much like the beings of his birthplace. Her dress draped across her form as she reclined against the elm tree. The green of the dress was becoming against her clear skin and dark hair. A dog lie at her side as she absently pats his head.
Flowers in autumn hue circle her head. Her dark glossy hair catches the sunlight of the harvest season. Tears fall in rivulets.
Jareth perches on a branch of pine and wonders what could cause such beauty to be so alone in her sadness with only a dog to keep her company.
Living in the Underworld for more than one hundred years, Jareth has known loneliness. Dalliances with fair ladies of fae kept his body busy, but his heart remained untangled.
Eventually he must choose a mate to procreate and be his queen when his father's health begins to fail, but the fae live long and his father, King Elrion, had at least a few hundred years left before Jareth need worry.
Tears flowed with abandon for much time until finally her breath returned to normal. She finally regains composure.
"Come, sweet Merlin, it is time we return."
She removes her peasant dress in the seclusion of the wooded area. Jareth does not turn his head as she pulls the cloth over her head. Her beasts are full and she wears nothing over them. They bounce as she folds the dress and pulls a sweatshirt from her knapsack.
He has one more glimpse as she pulls the covering over her globes. Her jeans are worn and hug her bottom. She places her costume into her knapsack and throws it over her shoulders.
The last of the day's sun is fading as the girl and the dog leave the wooded area.
Remaining in owl form, he follows in silent flight. She walks through the wood to a large run down house where the sign reads Collingsworth House, established 1942.
An old oak tree grows next to the grey house where the girl entered. Jareth feels the bark beneath his talons as he lands. He metamorphosed into his fae form and snaps his slender fingers. Clothing immediately provides cover materializing by his magical command.
A swift wind circles him as he drops to the ground. He chooses to keep his fae form invisible to human eye. He hears commotion from within the house. He sends a swift wind to push the front door open. He steps in quickly and catches the sweet smell of the sable haired girl.
"Sarah! Shut the door quick, you stupid little slut. The state doesn't pay me enough to heat this old house and feed you too," a woman calls roughly.
"Yes, Anna. I'm sorry."
Sarah…he mouths.
He closes his eyes and enters the mind of this girl.
When can I leave here? Why did they have to die? How much more can I take?
Jareth is able to surmise from her thoughts that her parents had died in a car crash. With no family to take her, she was placed into the care of the state. Anna apparently ran Collingsworth House and only cared for the money made by "caring" for the inhabitants.
"Anna? Are you staying the night with us?" Sarah began.
Jareth could feel the anxiety and fear in her voice. Reaching deeper into her mind, he finds the source. Sam.
He has never felt the urge to protect one of these humans no matter how interesting they seem, but somehow he feels an adaptation brewing in his stoic nature. Experiencing an overwhelming and new pull toward Sarah, his heart's tattoo calls her name.
Two years have passed since she entered his life. She would hate him from now to always, but she had loved him once even if she could not remember, and he loved her still. He would do everything in his power to protect her, even if it meant keeping her far and away from him. She would remain blissfully unaware of the love once shared.
Billowing and all powerful, the vapor trail of the jalandra leads him back to his memories. He would have only memories as refuge for the rest of his days.