I DO NOT OWN LABYRINTH OR TWILIGHT. THEY BELONG TO JIM HENSON AND STEPHANIE MEYER, RESPECTIVELY.
"AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN"—DAVID BOWIE, LABYRINTH, 1986
Prologue
Jareth, the Goblin King and Crown Prince of the Underground
Italics=Jareth's thoughts, Quotes from the Movie
Three years ago, Bella Swan was your average fifteen year old. She had a very active imagination and loved fairy tales. Her favorite was A.C.H. Smith's "Labyrinth".
It was about a young girl who wished away a child to the goblins and had to run the Goblin King's enormous labyrinth to get the child. However, along the way, the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl. The girl felt something for the misunderstood Goblin King; however, she had to save the child and rejected the adoring Goblin King. The girl had won the child, but she had lost the only one who loved her.
Bella adored the story. She thought that the Goblin King deserved a happy ending with the girl, but aside from that, she loved the story. She knew that the Goblin King was not just a villain; he was part hero/part villain. He was bad when he needed to be bad and good when he needed to be good.
I first saw Bella when she was play-acting in the near by park. I was in my form of a white barn owl, so she did not notice my observation. She had trouble remembering the last line of her monologue until she remembered that she had to baby-sit her brother.
Bella had a half-brother, Toby; he was one year old. Her mother, Renee, had placed Bella on babysitting duty, seeing as she had no plans on weekends.
Four days after her fifteenth birthday, she was babysitting Toby once again and her frustrations with life had boiled over and she took it took it out on Toby by teasing him about sending him to the goblins.
"What do you want? You want a story, huh? Fine, then. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, young girl whose mother always made her stay home with the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child, 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.
"'Say your right words,' the goblins said. '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 forever 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 house work and she was hurt by the harsh words of her mother and she could not longer stand it . . ."
Bella did not know the affect that her words would have had. She, unknowingly, had said the words that called me to take her brother . . .
"I wish that the goblins would come and take you away, right now!"
Within moments, her brother was gone. My subjects had taken Toby to my castle. Bella had no idea what had happened until she met me face to face.
"You're him, aren't you? You're the Goblin King. I want my brother back, please, if it's all the same."
I smiled. "What's said is said."
"But I didn't mean it."
"Oh, you didn't." I teased.
"Please. Where is he?"
"You know perfectly well where he is." Sheliked to play around did she?
"Please bring him back. Please."
"Bella, go back to your room, play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby." This is what she wanted. Is she testing me, to see if I would give in and give her the child back, ruining her life?
"I can't."
Gods, she was relentless. I got it! I would give her something! "I've brought you a gift." I made one of my crystals out of thin air.
Bella's eyes widened. "What is it?"
"It's a crystal. Nothing more." I started to twirl it around. "But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl, who takes care of a screaming baby." Her eyes showed interest. "Do you want it?" Her green eyes met my brown and blue eyes. "Then forget the baby."
The interest was gone. "I can't. It's not like I don't appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but I want my brother back. He must be so scared." She sounded close to tears. She was testing my patience.
"Bella," I warned. The crystal turned into a snake coiled perfectly in the palm of my hand. I unfurled it. "Don't defy me," I continued. I looked at the snake and acted on impulse: I threw the snake at her.
"Gah!" she screamed, struggling to take the snake off her, but when she did, it turned into a scarf.
"You're no match for me, Bella," I teased. I like being in control.
"But I have to have my brother back!" she yelled.
Ah, she wanted a challenge. Very well. She will run the labyrinth. Maybe a good run will make her realize that I am doing her a favor.
I pointed a finger out to the glass doors that I had came in, which was now a portal to the Underground. "He's there, in my castle," I said. Bella ran to the doors and looked in wonder, as it became the Underground. "Do you still want to look for him?"
"Is that the castle beyond the Goblin City?" She asked. Ah, so she had heard of it.
"Turn back, Bella. Turn back before it's too late," I said, wanting her to quit while she could.
"I can't. Don't you understand that I can't?" she said turning her back on me. "What a pity."
"It doesn't look that far." She said with a false bravo.
I came up silently behind her, and said into her ear, "It's further than you think. Time is short." I made a clock appear. It had thirteen hours on it. "You have thirteen hours to solve the labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us forever."
I left her to figure out the labyrinth. I told a dwarf, Hoggle, to be on guard at the entrance to the labyrinth. Bella met him within minutes. She went into the labyrinth and started to run it.
Meanwhile, I was forming a bond with young Tobias. He really was just a happy little chap. I was constantly checking up on Bella. She had passed the two guards (one who always lies, the other who always tells the truth), she had fallen through a trap door, and the Helping Hands asked her which way she wanted to go: Up or Down. Bella chose down.
A very bad mistake.
"She's in the oubliette," Isaid, watching her from one of my crystals. The goblins laughed. I did not want them laughing at her. "Shut up!" I yelled and they complied. They did not like my temper. Any who, I liked them much better when they were quiet. "She was not supposed to as far as the oubliette, she was supposed to give up by now," I said. Why did she have to be so difficult?
"She'll never give up," a goblin said.
"Oh, won't she? The dwarf's about to lead her back to the beginning. She'll soon give up when she realizes that she has to start all over again." I laughed and the goblins stayed quiet. This was annoying. "Well, laugh!"
Great, now they laughed.
I had stopped watching Bella and attended to the fact that my goblins had brought poultry into the throne room. Why did we even have poultry? I was so busy; I did not even notice that Hoggle was leading Bella towards the castle! What was that all about? While they were being held up by a false alarm, I got a disguise as a bird-faced beggar ready and waited for them.
"Ah, what have we here?" I asked.
"Nothing," Hoggle said.
Nothing? "Nothing? Nothing? Nothing?" I took off my disguise and heard Hoggle gasp. I shook the disguise as I said, "Nothing, tra-la-la?"
"Your Majesty, what a nice surprise." Hoggle said trying to hide his fear.
"Hello, Hedgewart." Hoggle hated it when I said his name wrong.
"Hogwart," Bella said.
"Hoggle!" he said exasperated.
"Hoggle, can it be that you're helping this girl?" Was this oaf, disobeying my orders?
"Helping? In what sense?"
Could he be any more stupid? "In the sense that you're leading her towards the castle."
"No, I was taking her back to the beginning, Your Majesty." Hoggle said, trying to come up with an excuse that would not have him charged with treason. I looked to Bella to see her reaction; she did not disappoint.
"What?" she screamed.
As Hoggle began to tell his little lie, I bent down to his height (not easy to do when you are very tall) so that I could read his face.
"I told her that I was going to help her solve the labyrinth. A little trickery on my part. But actually—"
I noticed the plastic bracelet around his wrist. Bella had one like it . . . wait, a second! That was Bella's!
"What is that plastic thing 'round your wrist?" I asked, knowing perfectly well, what it was.
Hoggle looked down and realized that the bracelet was showing. He gulped and tried to hide it, but he realized that it was futile because I had already seen it. So then, he acted as if he never realized that it was there. "Oh, this! My goodness, where did this come from?"
What an idiot. "Higgle—"
"Hoggle."
"Yes. If I thought that for one second that you were betraying me, I'd be forced to suspend you head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench." I warned. I loved using the Bog against people. They feared the Bog as much as they feared me! That is saying something.
"No, Your Majesty! Not the Eternal Stench!" Hoggle cried, going down on both knees and grabbing hold to me.
That foul dwarf was touching me! "Oh, yes, Hoggle!" I said, getting him off me. I turned to Bella, who was watching our exchange silently, her body against the wall, her green eyes blazing.
"And you, Bella." I said, placing one arm against the wall, leaning into her. "How are you enjoying my labyrinth?" I asked. Just give up already, Bella. Accept your dreams. I want them as much as you do. Please, I want them to be real . . .
"It's a piece of cake," she said. There popped the bubble. She just smashed it.
"Oh!" Hoggle moaned, knowing that she was supposed to give up and NOT provoke me. Oh, well.
"Really? Then how about upping the stakes? Hmm?" I made a clock with thirteen hours appear and took 3 hours away from her.
"That's not fair!" Bella yelled.
"You say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is," I sneered. Why didn't she just give up?
I walked away from her and stood in front of one of the exits. "So the labyrinth is a piece of cake, is it? Well, lets see how you deal with this little slice . . ." I made a crystal appear and threw I into the dark abyss and heard metal whirling.
"Oh, no, the Cleaners!" Hoggle screamed.
"What?"
"Run!"
I took this as my cue to leave and check up on young Tobias. However, I still listened in to them running.
"Ah! The Cleaners, the Bog of Stench! You sure got his attention!" Hoggle yelled. I laughed. For once, Hoggle was right.
They had escaped the Cleaners, with a little help from me. After all, I could not just let Bella die. Besides, my plan was not to kill her. Just to frighten her.
Meanwhile, Bella had just met the Wise Man. He actually was not wise at all, it was actually a joke. He did not tell her much, but Bella took the advice. She should have listened to his hat.
"Will you listen to this crap?" Actual words of wisdom, from a hat nonetheless.
Hoggle had gotten cold feet when it came to helping Bella and she had come across some of my soldiers attacking a Yeti. However, Bella managed to save the savage beast, named Ludo.
She came across the knockers. One was deaf, the other mute. See the irony?
Bella was actually patient and listened to those two idiots argue. She finally knocked on the mute knocker's door and went in with Ludo. Soon after entering, Ludo fell into a trapdoor (he actually fell; do not point any fingers at me!)
Bella was left alone and called on Hoggle to help her. Hoggle! Why in the name of the Gods would Bella call him and not me? I could do things much better than my gardener could!
I admit I was a tiny, tiny, microscopic bit jealous. Okay, that was a lie. I was LOADED with jealousy. So I decided to confront Hoggle head on (without him actually knowing that I was jealous, though he could probably guess) and warn him to stay away from Bella.
When I arrived to Hoggle's location, he heard Bella cry out his name.
"Hoggle, help!"
"Huh? I'm coming, Bella!"
I took this as my cue. "Well, if it isn't you. And where do you think you're going?"
"Well, the little lady gave me the slip but I just hears her now, so I was about to lead her back to the beginning, like you told me." Hm, this was going to be easier than I thought.
"I see." I started to walk towards him. You could hear Bella screaming Ludo's name. "For one moment I thought you were running to help her. But, no, not after my warnings. That would be stupid." Oh, yes it would be. Being smitten with the girl I intended on making my bride was very, very stupid.
"Oh, you bet it would! Me, help her? After your warnings?" Hoggle faked laughed in an attempt to hide his discomfort. He started to back away slowly. What a piece of cake.
I looked at the miserable maggot and noticed something: the sack of jewels he always carried at his hip, his most prized possession, was gone.
This has Bella all over it.
Just as Hoggle started to turn away, I used magic to show up behind him and I crouched down. When Hoggle came around, his fake laugh was caught in his throat.
"Poor Hoghead," I said, acting concerned. Hoggle gulped.
"Hoggle," he said, correcting me in his name.
I pulled at his shirt, pulling him closer to me. "I've just noticed that your lovely jewels are missing." Let us see how he handled this.
"Oh, yes. My precious jewels…I had better look for them. But, first, I'ma find the little lady and take her back to the beginning, just like we planned!" Hoggle turned to leave. Oh, no, he was not getting away that easily.
"Wait, Hoggle. I have a better idea." I said. I had actually been planning this for a while and now was the perfect time to present it. I conjured up a crystal and played with it. "Give her this." I tossed it to him and it turned into a peach.
"Wh-What is it?" He asked. What. An. Idiot.
"It's a present," I said briskly. Honestly, could this mediocre think?
"It-it ain't gonna hurt the little lady, is it?" Hoggle asked. Since when was he concerned about anyone other than himself?
"Now why the concern?" I asked.
"I-I won't do nothing to harm her."
Was he serious? I was getting tired of this. "Oh, come, come, Hogbrain. Don't tell me that you actually care for the girl."
"She said we was—"
"What? Bosom companions?" My smile faded. "Friends? Why would a young girl want to be friends with a pathetic worm like you?"
"Never mind," Hoggle said sadly.
"You'll give her that Hoggle or I will throw you to the Bog of Stench!" I grabbed him from his collar, gave him a good shake, and let him go. "Oh, and Hoggle. Should she ever kiss you, I'll turn you into a Prince."
"Y-You will?" The idiot actually had a trace of hope in his voice. Pathetic.
"Prince of the Land of Stench!" I added with a laugh and then disappeared.
Hoggle left to help Bella from the Furies; beings would could create fire from their fingers and had removable body parts. They were trying to take her head off. Hoggle managed to save her by throwing down a rope for Bella to climb. She began to thank him.
"Hoggle? Oh, thank you!"
She started to hug him and attempted to kiss his cheek.
"No! Don't kiss me! Don't—" Hoggle never finished his sentence. The moment the first kiss landed on his cheek, I opened a trap door and slid them to the Bog of Eternal Stench. He was most definitely going to become Prince of the Land of Stench.
Luckily, they did not fall and met Ludo. As they were about to cross the bridge, they crossed across Sir Didymus, head of the Royal Guard. He is a fox of some sort . . . I think.
After a short battle with Didymus, Ludo was declared his 'brother' and they were allowed to cross. Once across, they began to walk to the palace, with Didymus as their guide. Hoggle, the idiot, attempted to throw the peach into the Bog! My Dream-Spheres are not intended for that purpose!
I would not do that if I were you, I warned. Hoggle did not throw the peach but he kept it. Good. He knew what to do next. As the company was complaining of hunger, Hoggle offered my peach to Bella. He had waited until the Yeti and Didymus with his noble 'stead' (a dog) Lancelot.
"Bella?"
"Yes, Hoggle?"
"Here." He held the peach out to her.
"Oh, Hoggle, thank you!" Bella bit into the peach eagerly and slowly came to a stop. "This peach tastes funny . . . Hoggle . . . what did you do?" She started to lean upon a tree for support.
"Damn you, Jareth. And damn me too." Hoggle cursed and ran away, leaving Bella to be intoxicated by my Dream-Sphere.
The dream was lovely. Bella was an angel in her dress. She dreamt that we were in the midst of a masquerade ball. I decided that this would be a good time to sing her the song I wrote for her.
There's such a sad love
Deep in your eyes
A kind of pale jewel
Opened and closed
Within your eyes,
I'll place the sky
Within your eyes
There's such a fooled heart,
Beating so fast,
In search of new dreams,
A love that will last
Within your heart.
I'll place the moon,
Within your heart.
As the pain sweeps through,
Makes no sense for you,
Every thrill has gone,
Wasn't too much fun at all,
But I'll be there for you-oo
As the World Falls Down
(Falling,
It's falling,
Falling in Love)
I'll paint you mornings of gold,
I spin you Valentine evenings.
Though we're strangers 'til now,
We're choosing the path between the stars.
I'll lay my love
Between the stars.
As the pain sweeps through,
Makes no sense for you,
Every thrill has gone,
Wasn't too much fun at all,
But I'll be there for you-oo
As the World Falls Down
(Falling,
It's falling,
Falling
Falling
Falling
Falling
Falling in Love)
As the World Falls Down
Makes no sense at all,
Makes no sense to fall
Falling
(x2) As The World Falls Down
Falling
Falling
Falling in Love(x5)
Bella and I danced and it was exquisite. I was on Cloud Nine; I was in love. Unfortunately, halfway through my song, I tried to kiss Bella. It really was a seduction attempt but not of the sexual sort. I attempted to show her how life could be if she forgot about the boy and chose me instead. But when I tried to kiss her, she pushed me away and broke the enchantment.
She ended up in the junkyard and I ended up with a broken heart. I was bitter about Bella refusing to kiss me. I guess my ego got in the way. Didymus and Ludo found Bella, they ran into Hoggle, and all was forgiven. They made their way into the Goblin City.
Around this time, I was hanging with Jareth (as I had decided to call Toby). He was so like me, such a happy chap. He had my eyes for Dannu's sake! A goblin palace guard ran up to me.
"Your Majesty, something is happening! It has to do with the girl-who-ate-the-peach, who-forgot-everything!"
"What of her?" I was a little stingy about Bella at that moment.
"She got through the gate with the Yeti and the dwarf who works for you! They're on their way here to the castle!"
"Don't just stand there! Stop her!" I belted out the order and every single goblin ran out of the throne room and to the battlefield.
Bella and her troupe must have had a guardian angel on their side because they managed to escape cannons and an army of goblins and made their way into the castle. I had taken Toby from the throne room and I took him to the Escher room, a room with infinite staircases that defied gravity. Bella found the throne room empty and told her company that she must face me alone. She was a smart girl, though she drove my patience past my limits. I had done all her heart could have desired. I even said this to her.
"How you've turned my world, you precious thing.
You starve and near exhaust me.
Everything I've done, I've done or you.
I move the stars for no one.
You've run so far, come so far.
You're eyes can be so cruel,
Just as I can be so cruel.
Though I do believe in you;
Yes, I do. . .
Live without your sunlight,
Love without your heartbeat.
I, I, can't live within you."
Bella did not seem to hear my pitiful cry. She kept searching for her brother. He continued to evade her grasp, for a crawling toddler. I saw Bella's plan before she processed it in her mind. She jumped off the stairs to reach Toby and she broke the Escher charm. It began to crumble apart but I needed more time. I had to make my intentions clear and my offer to her now before she left me forever.
I made sure to create a small separate realm so that I could have time to talk to her. She appeared to be confused then intuition flashed in her emerald eyes as she saw me.
"Give me the child."
"Bella, be careful. I have been generous up until now and I can be cruel," I warned. I was angry and hurt; it may have sounded threatening.
"Generous?" Bella gasped out as if it were the most surprising thing in the world. "What have you been generous about?"
"Everything," I snapped. "Everything you had wanted, I have done. You asked that the child be taken; I took him. You cowered before me; I was frightening. I have reordered time, I have moved the stars, I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted of living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?" Could she not see? I was plainly speaking to her, yet she was deaf to my objections.
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have come to take back the child you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as—"
"Stop. Wait," I ordered. "Bella, think of what you're throwing away: your dreams," I said, forming a crystal. Her eyes flashed with anger.
She started again. "For my will is as strong as yours—"
I interrupted her again. "I ask for very little. Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want."
Bella paused and a conflicted look came upon her face. "Kingdom as great . . . Damn, I can never remember that line!"
I took my chance; it was now or never to propose. "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I shall be your slave." My eyes glanced to the clock. It was less than a minute until her time was up.
"Kingdom as great, kingdom as great," she chanted. Suddenly, she got a look of wonder in her eyes and her gaze met mine. Had she finally succumbed? "You have no power over me!" She cried out as the clock struck thirteen. The crystal shattered and, by Ancient Fae Laws, I was forced to allow Bella to return to the Aboveground, the mortal world, with Toby. Her companions visited her in the Aboveground and she learned to love Toby and end her resentment towards him; her resentment towards me was relentless.
Tragedy struck the family one year later. On the way from Bella's summer camp, an elk came before their way and in an attempt to spare the elk Renee swerved the car away from the road and crashed. Glass shattered and the majority flew into Bella's eyes. Their heads bumped around the van, knocking them unconscious.
Bella awoke in the hospital to a horror: she could no longer see. She was on the waiting list for eye surgery to restore her sight. I was there at the hospital.
"Bella," I said, mournfully, seeing her weak and broken on the hospital bed.
"Goblin King? What are you doing here? Where's Toby?" Bella demanded to know. She could not see me but she could hear and sense me—her soul recognized me.
"Bella, I am so sorry. Toby didn't make it," I choked out. I hastily wiped away the tears that escaped my eyes.
"Lies. You're lying. Tell me you're lying," Bella sobbed. Her cries sounded like her heart had been wretched from her chest. I knew the feeling. "You did it, I know you did! You're mad 'because I won so you killed Toby!"
"Bella, I would never—"
"Liar! You killed my brother! You killed my brother!"
I couldn't fight her. Her will was stronger than mine. I left her to wallow in her sorrow. She soon received her eyes surgery but she had lost her luminous emerald eyes for chocolate brown eyes. She moved to Forks, Washington and fell in love with Edward Cullen. Then he left her after her birthday.
This is where the story begins.
