Authoress Note: Greetings all! This is my first attempt at a Labyrinth fanfic, so please let me know what you think. I have a lot of ideas for this fic, so please review and let me know if you would like me to continue.
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In the highest tower; one of many that graced the castle beyond the goblin city, Stood Jareth, the Goblin King. He was propped up against the wall, arms crossed, with one foot flat against the stone behind him. His eyes had been closed in the quiet contemplation of the subject which constantly plagued his thoughts. But now they Slid open and searched the familiar room almost desperately, as though the very brick held the answers he sought.
The room, which was circular, had been designed and created for one purpose, the quiet contemplation of the subject. The subject, of course, was his obsession, his fixation, his defeat, his last hope. Her.
This room was magically created, and strategically placed far away from everyone and everything. Jareth's personal wing of the castle was off limits to everyone but a select list of goblin servants that he trusted above all others. These goblins had also been taught how to speak properly in an attempt to annoy the king as little as possible. Trespassing in the king's personal wing was an offence punishable by death, so obviously he was never bothered here in his little haven.
The very center of the floor was recessed about eighteen inches, and in the indentation stood a sparkling marble pedestal. Atop this Grecian pillar rested one of the king's greatest works; an enormous crystal. This crystal was the largest the king had ever conjured.
The crystal was over three feet in diameter, and its creation had taken such an incredible amount of energy it had left the king unconscious for nearly a day. The crystal was the only source of light since there were no windows. The walls were covered with intricate tapestries, arranged about six inches apart. They were not decorated with images, but in extremely complex twisting, turning lined designs. Each one a miniature labyrinth of its own. Jareth, of course knew the solutions to them all.
Jareth's gaze was once again drawn to the image portrayed within the crystal, and as always he was filled with a profound sense of restlessness. With a graceful, effortless motion Jareth pushed himself from the wall and began to pace around the floor once more. His gaze was drawn to the once luxurious, midnight blue carpet, now worn threadbare from countless hours of his pacing. He continued to walk around and around the crystal in an endless loop, demonstrating the convenience of the circular room.
He continued to pace until his actions could no longer be considered pacing. He was now stalking, as a hunter would stalk his pray…or feverously stalk the entrance to his prison, searching for an escape. Jareth never took his eyes off the sphere as he memorized every detail it displayed from every angle as he traveled.
It was very late, so late that it could technically be considered early, and Sarah had been asleep for hours. She lay nestled safely in the warmth of her blankets, her angel's face still and peaceful. She looked so frail and innocent, so fragile and defenseless it only fanned that restless feeling. Jareth was certain that even if he lived forever, which now seemed quite the daunting possibility, he would never tire of watching her sleep.
He loved to watch her smile as she dreamt, and she always smiled, he had personally made sure of that. He had taken to sending her the most beautiful dreams to replace the nightmares that were insolent enough to dare to try and disturb her sleep. Tonight she had her blankets pulled tightly around her shoulders, with an arm draped loosely around a spare pillow she slept with.
Jareth had sent her a lovely dream tonight, instead of the one she would have had, which involved her being late to something or other that she felt was very important not to be late to. In the dream Jareth had sent her, Sarah and Toby were much closer in age, and were currently engaged in feather pillow warfare that would make the most battle hardened veteran cringe.
Suddenly, Jareth stopped his pacing and stood directly in front of the giant crystal, compleatly trasfixed. He stared intently at Sarah's face, as though he were trying to summon up his courage. After a moment, Jareth let out a long sigh, and placed his hand on the globe, now feeling completely exhausted.
"I'm sorry, my dear Sarah, but I'm afraid that my time is up. Although I would like nothing more, I simply cannot linger here any longer. It has been six long years, and you've probably forgotten me, or worse, convinced yourself that I was nothing more then a vividly exciting dream."
With these words, Jareth slowly let his hand fall back to his side and with no small effort, forced himself to tear his eyes away from Sarah's sleeping face. Jareth took several deep breathes to steady himself as his chest tightened painfully in protest. A moment later, the magnificent crystal went black. Jareth inwardly cringed at the loss, once again glad that he had ensured that there was no chance of anyone seeing him like this.
He was a king, for crying out loud! How could one silly little girl reduce him to a weak, lovesick, puppy eyed, pining fool?! Well, no more. It was far past time for him to start acting like a king again. A king capable of instilling fear in his subjects, or the foolhardy wisher who found themselves pitted against his Labyrinth. He had become a mere shadow of his former self in these past few years, and now was the time to rebuild.
Every muscle in his body rebelled at the action, but Jareth turned away from the now black crystal and walked out through the arched stone entryway, and down the spiraling staircase. Jareth could have easily transported himself anywhere within his kingdom, but somehow descending the stairs coming down from the tower seemed to make his decision final, to make it real, and make it irreversible.
Finally he reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs, and he turned back to face the ornately decorated entryway. With a graceful wave of his hand, the wall morphed, so that it swallowed up the entryway, completely hiding it from view, making it impossible to tell there had ever been anything there. With another casual flick of his wrist, a series of goblin statues of in full battle armor, hefting a variety of weapons, each one more sinister looking the last now, lined the entire expanse of the wall.
There was such an empty, numb feeling in Jareth's chest it was almost too much for him to bear. With another deep breath, Jareth spoke the words he had hoped never to say…
"Goodbye Sarah."
A split second later Jareth vanished, only to reappear in the short hallway leading to his bed chambers. He passed two cleaning goblin maids who, to the king's great irritation, looked completely bewildered at his presence.
"Hello, majesty. Are you feeling well?" The older of the goblins maids asked him. This only aggravated him further. The goblins had become so accustomed to him lurking in his tower watching Sarah; they automatically accredited his early return to an illness. Smashing.
"Quite." He answered curtly as he passed her, doing nothing to prevent an edge from creeping into his tone.
"May I get you anything Majesty, or do you wish to retire?" She asked, a little more timidly, sensing the king's biting mood. This caused Jareth to stop and turn to face the maids. The look on the younger maids face made Jareth regret, however slightly, lashing out at them.
"Yes actually, I could use a rather large pitcher of ale." Jareth said in a far more pleasant tone. Again the goblin maids looked utterly shocked. The king asking for alcohol to be sent to his quarters was also very unusual thing.
"Did you want anything in particular, Sire? Maybe some of the wine your father sent you?"
"No, No wine. I've indulged in far too much whine already." Jareth's eyes flitted to the goblin maid who had, unsurprisingly, missed the kings duel meaning and was staring at him with a look of confusion.
"I could go for some goblin ale at the moment." Jareth added casually, and continued on his way to his room. Behind him the goblins stared at each other, eyed wide with surprise and even a bit of worry.
"king is back before dawn?" The younger maid asked, reverting back to the goblins natural shorter, more simplistic sentences.
"And Drinking?" The older maid added.
"Drinking goblin ale?"
"Does he know what that does to the non-goblins?"
Both maids looked at the kings closed door with concerned expressions. Neither one sure if the king knew what he was getting himself into. Then both maids scurried off to fetch the king his drink before he decided to be angry again and give the bog an early morning workout.
Sarah awoke that morning with a strange, uneasy feeling. She propped herself up on her arm to gaze at her alarm clock, thinking that maybe she had overslept, and found that it was still two hours before she had to get ready for work.
Sarah lay back down and buried herself deeper into her blankets, suddenly feeling very cold. No matter how hard she tried, Sarah could not fall back asleep.
