Don't own Labyrinth or any of the characters... sadly, cause Jareth is just sooooo damn sexy!
Dust hangs in the musty air; he ambles through the labyrinth of bobbles and trinkets. Standing on the tips of his toes, digging down in an old wooden crate. Curiosity flashes softly in pale blue eyes. Pulling back his balled up hand, he opens it, rolling a glass orb in his palm. Smiling softly, he brings the orb closer to his face.
Walking back towards the front counter, stacked with various volumes, he rings the bell, waking the goblin of a man. An interrupted snore turns to a wheezing cough, hacking wetly; he turns foggy eyes to the boy.
"What?" He croaks, contempt filling a creviced face, before a knowing smile creeps over his features. Revealing yellow stump teeth, he laughs, reaching forward, gasping the glistening ball.
"Sir," Small voice almost a bird's song in the stale room, "How much?" He questions, staring at the orb, a raindrop on Dyre Wolf's fern. Another sticky laugh and he returns the glass to the out-stretched hand in front of him.
"For the Prince, nothing." He murmurs wistfully, head lolling from side to side, before his chin rests against his chest. Shaking champagne locks from his eyes, he rolls the orb over the back of his hand, he begins to hum. Turning the brass knob, the large oak door groans open, and he walks into the afternoon sunlight.
Strolling down a brick covered street, orb dancing with his fingers, he notices an ivory owl seemingly following him. Shrugging, he takes a left through a rose covered arbor. Running up green-painted steps and in the open door, he inhales the warm scent of home and coffee.
"Sarah." He calls, jogging over burgundy carpet, into the kitchen. She sits at the table, reading a worn red book, and sipping at a steaming cup. Looking over the rim, a smile glows, snuffed out when hazelnut eyes spot the orb. Feeling slightly light-headed, she rises, too many similarities.
When her parents divorced, then her step-monster died under certain… unsavory circumstances soon after, she was left with Toby, five at the time. Only a week after bringing the child to her home, she began to see characteristics that reminded her eerily of the Goblin King. Now standing on shaking knees, watching the teenage boy wield the orb over and under his arms like water, she cringes.
"Sarah?" He questions, she half-hears him through the crashing waves of blood pounding in her ears. Stumbling towards him, she grasps the ball in her hand, halting its ballet. Looking from their hands to confused crystal blue eyes, she takes his new-found talent and rolls it in her palm.
"Do you want to know why you dream the same fairy-tale every night? Do you want to know who Jareth is?" She asks slowly, not wanting to lose her little brother to him. He looks up, nodding for a moment. Sighing, she gives him back the orb and turns, walking up the stairs, followed closely by Toby.
Sarah stands, looking into the full-length mirror at the foot of her bed. Smiling sadly, she beckons him forward, kissing him on his head. She had hoped that as he grew, that as his time in the Labyrinth became a distant memory he would stay the same sweet boy.
"I wish the Goblin King would come take you home," She chokes sadly, "right now." Cool winds and a flurry of cream feathers whip chocolate hair wildly; a small sob wracks her body. She wipes tears from her face, and then, sudden as snow, there he stands, perfect as ever.
"You summoned me." Velvety voice soothes her raw heart, making it flutter just as it did so many years ago.
"Promise me that if I let you have him, you will protect, nurture him… love him. Because if you don't, I won't be able to let him go." She commands, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. A feral smile crosses the King's face. Striding towards her, moving the teen from his path with a gentle gust of air, he cups her cheek in his gloved grasp.
"Dearest Sarah, defiant as ever, even as I hear your heart pounding against your ribcage. Why do you still fight me?" With his question, he rubs the pad of his thumb over her lips, she releases a ragged breath.
"Please, promise me." She asks, more forcibly, moving her face into his caress. Lifting his midnight plum cape to hide his attack from Toby, he presses his mouth to hers in a hungry kiss. Helpless to resist what she has longed for, to resist what she needs. Threading her fingers through sun-shine satin locks, molding her body to his. The glorious taste of dark chocolate courts her tongue, numbing the last of the painful throb.
Pulling away, he smirks. "I promise, but perhaps you should join us, then you can keep me to my word yourself." Looking up into mismatched eyes, a long-lost glow rises from her lips to her cheeks.
"I will not surrender."
Confidence, bordering on self-righteousness, fills his face. "We have all eternity to see." With that Jareth led his Queen and Prince through the mirror into their timeless realm.
Review and you shall receive a cookie...if you can solve the Labyrinth...