A/N: This is my first fanfiction. There are probably similarities between my story and another's, as the idea is not a particularly unique one. As such, I would like to say that any similarities are purely coincidental and this work is in entirety my own. I would also greatly appreciate any constructive criticism. Thank you for reading!
It's Not Fair
The place between the human world and the Underground is dark. Ever since Jareth first travelled across the barrier it'd been that way: dark, miasmic, and cold. He hated crossing it. What little emotions he felt in the Underground, he felt even less in that empty place—but it was worth it, since he'd be able to see her.
Jareth's wings flapped silently beside him; no sounds could be heard but his own heart and the slight rustling of his feathers. His mind wandered through the gloom, and he hummed a tune in his head to pass the time. It was hard to determine just how long the trip took. But soon enough there was a light – the light of the human world, so bright compared to his own – in the distance that interrupted his song. His heart raced with anticipation. All he had to do was reach it, and he'd be there. He accelerated his flight, and within moments felt the brush of cool summer air on his body and the dampness on his feathers.
The first thing he saw was her. She stood on the wet grass only a few feet away, in the same place she always played, as if they were keeping a promise they made to meet. This was her favourite park, after all. She went here every Sunday, and it was here that he first laid eyes upon her. He perched himself comfortably at a short distance from where she played.
Oh Sarah, still a child. Jareth thought, chuckling to himself as he took notice of her attire. She was dressed in a long gown over a pair of blue jeans, and her hair was tied up and adorned with white flowers made of plastic and cheap fabric. She was playing a role in one of her stories, he couldn't remember which one.
I could give her a real dress. He mused. One befitting a Goblin Queen.
As his thoughts had him elsewhere, the nearness of Sarah's voice brought him out of his reverie.
"Give me the child." she said, inching closer. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great—"
A rumble of thunder overhead broke her concentration. Jareth's heart beat wildly from the interaction. She didn't know who he was, she had no clue – but she was hardly ever so close to him. He wanted to reach out and grab her, right then, to claim her as his own and keep her away in the Underground. His heart would not calm. The strength in her voice and the will he knew she possessed is what first stole his heart, he remembered, as he watched her attempt to outrun the rainfall. Jareth sighed to himself, and ruffled his white feathers.
She is still stubborn and immature. Jareth thought. But one day I will have her.
He took flight into the air and disappeared like dying smoke into the grey-white clouds.
Not far from Sarah's home stood a clock tower, and in that clock tower Jareth's shadowed figure hunched over a small silver ball. He had turned back into his human image, slender and graceful and long-limbed; the use of a barn owl's body was of little use but flight. His long blond hair fell in sharp layers and fell about his face as he bent over. His cloak was dark and ragged, which perfectly camouflaged him in the night. The rain poured heavier and the thunder boomed louder since he had come into this world. There was always an upset in the balance of things when he arrived. Weather change, falling stars, and abnormal animal behaviour all were common. No one really took notice, though.
He took a gloved hand and lifted up his glass orb. He observed that Sarah was home now, sopping wet from the rain she couldn't avoid. She fought with her step mother again, too. He smiled at her childish anger, so pathetic and easily roused. He eyed the toys in her room, some of them seeming to stand out amongst the rest. A woman in a white gown did a pirouette to a melody – that one he'd given her. She wouldn't have remembered, of course, especially since he had left it anonymously. He'd crafted it from images he'd seen in her dreams.
At her desk he noticed she whispered her lines to herself, and Jareth shut his eyes and listened. It would calm her to lose her mind in her fantasies. One day he knew he would show her his world, and she wouldn't have to dream any longer. He reopened his eyes as she fought once more with her parents. When it was over, she fell onto her bed and quickly noticed one of her toys was missing.
The baby was crying now, Jareth saw through the orb. He stood in his crib wailing, and he could feel Sarah's rage intensifying as she barged into the room.
"I hate you! I hate you!" she cried, grabbing her doll from the floor.
Jareth watched closely. The fire in her eyes was becoming, and like a moth to a candle, he could not pull himself from the attraction of the flame.
"Oh, save me! Someone take me away from this awful place!" she grieved.
The baby cried louder, but it did not drown out the thoughts running through Jareth's head. Is this it? Will she say it? He thought, his hopes high. Would she know the words?
Sarah continued to speak to the baby in a fierce tone. "And the baby was a spoiled child," she said darkly. "And he wanted everything for himself, and the young girl was practically a slave. But what no one knew was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain powers. So one night, when the baby had been particularly cruel to her, she called on the goblins for help."
Jareth heard the voices of his goblin henchmen prattle hushed desires in his head. His own heartbeat, going wild, nearly drowned them out.
"Listen," their scratchy voices murmured. "Listen, listen."
"'Say the right words,' the goblins said." Sarah went on, deaf to the menacing voices of Jareth's servants. "And we'll take the baby to the Goblin City, and you will be free. But the girl knew that the king of the goblins would keep the baby in his castle for ever and ever and ever... and turn it into a goblin. And so the girl suffered in silence, until one night, when she was tired from a day of housework, and she was hurt by the harsh words of her stepmother, and she could no longer stand it..."
The baby's howling grew louder and harsher. Sarah picked up the baby and in exasperation spoke to it with grating words. The discontent of Jareth's henchmen grew louder, and he too felt his heart sink. He had waited for the day he could ensnare her in a trap, luring her to the Underground with false pretences.
It seemed she would never say the right words, and she left to exit the room – until something extraordinary happened: she spoke them, as if destiny were Jareth's ally.
"I wish the goblins would come and take you away... right now."
Now!
Everything was in place, and everything happened as it should. In an instant Jareth's henchmen were quietly in hiding at every corner of the room; and Jareth himself took off from the clock tower in a dazzling transformation from human to owl.
The rain had let up, but the thunder and lightning hadn't. What an entrance he'd make.
