As much as I have tried to refrain from writing while studying and doing homework, I can't do it. Jareth is just determined to stick in my brain, residing somewhere between the tests I took last week and the papers that are due next week. This just sort of came out. Tell me what you think, please? I know it is a sketchy beginning, and I promise that the next chapter will be a little more concrete.
As for the story, I didn't think I would ever right anything but Jareth/Sarah stories. I was wrong.
Disclaimer: Jareth and the Labyrinth are not mine, but everyone else is so far. I'm not naming names at this point.
Once I Was Loved
Chapter 1
The smell of newly fallen rain permeated the air. It was too soon after the storm for the birds to start singing and shaking the bead-like drops from their feathers. Everything was still a hush across the landscape as a white owl made its way through the puffy gray clouds that were quickly breaking apart. Not a sound was heard, save for the beat of the owl's wings against the air currents as it swooped and circled, trying to find something that it didn't know that it was looking for. It just knew that it had to be.
Countless times it soared over the dense forest, not really seeing anything below him. The wind on its face felt good, as did the dissipating clouds that gave way to warm sunshine. The owl dipped lower over the canopy of the trees, enjoying the sensation of flight.
* * * * * * * *
Jareth was bored. His education was taking a momentary sabbatical, and he had nothing to do but wait out the time in his father's castle. An endless stream of parties and balls and receptions was not his idea of distraction, so he took to pacing the castle hallways, looking for a diversion. The countesses and princesses that they paraded in front of him was enough to make him gag, each one a slightly more grotesque personification of that which he despised most in his life. He hated all of the pomp and formality of the court, and longed to get away from it.
Alas, he was not to escape from his crystal prison. He was the crown prince, and would one day follow his father to the throne. Not for a long time, of course. It would most likely be when his father tired of ruling and would decide to step down, since Fae were immortal. He knew this as well as he knew his own name. He would be a great king like his father was; he had decided on this when he was very young and impressionable. Even as he paced the passages in the middle of the night, he never wavered from the fact that his destiny lay in the goblin kingdom. Simple creatures, really, and quite harmless, but they made up for any lack of brain power in their numbers. Still, the peace of the Underground was resting on sometimes turbulent ground. They had enjoyed years of quiet without case for alarm, thanks to the quick thinking of Jareth's father. Many a time had he settled an argument and cooled a heated temper with a few words. Those in the Underground both feared and respected him, not daring to cross his path. It was said that he could cause goblins to freeze with terror with a single glance.
But those who were close to the king knew him better. He was a kind and gentle man, more prone to peaceful ways of persuasion rather than causing paralysis in creatures with little to no brain power. He loved his family, and looked forward to the day when he could step down and live his life in peace. He had faith that his son would continue with the peaceful and quiet reign, Jareth being a quiet person himself.
But, our story does not center around good King Bertrel. No matter how good a king he was, it still could not belay the fact that Jareth was restless. He felt a stirring in his soul, something like he had never felt before. He needed to get away, find an adventure, do something besides wait for his mother to marry him off to one of the mindless girls that always seemed to be hanging around. As he stood for a moment on a balcony in the castle, overlooking the Labyrinth, he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to see Aboveground.
He absentmindedly formed a crystal in his hand, letting its depths mesmerizing him with its reflection of the maze. The images distorted as he rolled the crystal orb between his hands. To Jareth, It was the same thing that he had seen since he could remember. He knew every twist and turn, every oubliette, every creature that lived within his father's realm. There was nothing new to see or discover.
His father said this would happen, this feeling of restlessness. "It will pass in time. Just don't let it get you into trouble."
But what could the king remember of that time when he felt this way? He had been the goblin king for so long that Jareth doubted that his father could remember what it was like. When he was very small, his father had told him the story of Aboveground and how he had visited it only once. According to his father, "Once was enough. Humans are curious creatures. They place too much faith in things that they can see and not enough on what they cannot. They know nothing of our world and how it really is. They think it all fairy tales and fluff. Hardly any magic to speak of."
Aboveground had always intrigued the prince. Not that he wished to live their for any length of time, but he wished just to see it. Gazing at the crystal in his hand, he thought of something that he had always wanted to do.
*I want to see Aboveground*
The crystal was immediately filled with many images. Forests, blue rivers, towering mountains capped with pure white snow. To him, it was beautiful and wild, its magic untapped and unused. A slight smile spread across his lips and his eyes danced as the images shifted rapidly, now showing villages and castles, humans and animals. For several seconds the images changed until it settled on the figure of a sleeping human, a girl. Her honey colored hair splashed down from her pillow, hanging off the edge of the bed to stop almost halfway to the floor. Her lips were parted slightly, contrasting delicately with her fair skin.
He sat, locked in the image of the girl. Much to his surprise, her eyes opened slowly, revealing the jade pools that had been hidden behind her lids. Still blurry with sleep, her eyes seemed to focus on Jareth's face, smiling slightly as a shocked look crossed his face. Her arms raised off of the bed and reached out to him, before fading with the rest of her image within the crystal.
The crystal falling forgotten from his hand, Jareth changed into a white owl without thinking, and took off in search of that which he did not know. He was not sure if he would find it, he just knew that it was out there waiting for him, somewhere. He had to find her.
And so it was on a day much like any other in the Underground. The sun rose, it shone from a cloudless sky, and a slight breeze was playing tag with itself through the trees. A day very much like any other.