A/N~ So, it's Jareth's side of the story, with a little bit of five years later romance (eventually) and a poor attempt at humor... eventually. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own David Bowie. *sigh*
"Give me back my brother!" The girl stood in front of him, tall and impressive, hands on either side of her hips. Her eyes flashed defiantly, as if challenging him, as if to prove she could handle anything he threw at her. He moved forward, a cat stalking it's prey.
"He's there, in my castle." He said, gesturing behind him and beyond her window to where the Labyrinth now materialized. He glanced back at her, leaning close, almost whispering. "Do you still want to look for him?"
"I- I have to go through there?" She asks, suddenly anxious. The sprawling twists and turns of the Labyrinth were enough to make even the most sturdy of them quake. Well, all but one girl but let's not even go there. Jareth twirled a strand of her long red hair between his fingers idly, watching the light play over it. She turned to him, eyes already filled with distraction, voice pleading. "Couldn't you just give him back, please?"
"Give who back?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He had caught her eyes now, it was hopeless. She leaned a little into him, a confused look clouding her features.
"What were we talking about?" She asks. He let out a sigh, disappointed as always. She had forgotten so easily, so uncaringly. A crystal materialized in his hands. At that, her eyes went wide. "Oh, hell no! I've heard about you!"
"Wait!" He called as she tore from his arms, running back towards the window.
"No, keep the kid!" She hollered back, not even bothering to turn around. With that, she jumped through the window where her room was, the window faded and vanished, and the clock chimed once, meaning the game was over. He had won but it was an empty win.
"Sarah!" He muttered darkly, spinning on his heel and storming towards the Labyrinth. In an instant he was walking the long hallway of his castle towards the goblin thrown about room where the baby now waited.
"Is she gonna try, majesty?" Hoggle asked, the baby cradled in his arms. Since Sarah had defeated the Labyrinth all of her friends were "promoted" by Jareth. It helped him keep an eye on them and assure they wouldn't meddle too much again.
"No, of course not Hedgewart." He snapped, taking the baby up in his arms and dismissing the goblin from his sight with a leer. Hoggle rushed through the doors and out to the garden without bothering to correct him.
Jareth settled on his chair with the boy in his arms. The child yawned a little, his blue eyes opening ever so slightly, before curling himself closer to the Goblin King and going back to sleep. Jareth let out a tired sigh but passed his hand over the child and muttered under his breath. The little one immediately began to transform and the King looked away, focusing instead on the new crystal that materialized in his free hand. He had seen this part before. He set his gaze steely and began once more to curse that wretched girl Sarah under his breath as the crystal fogged and cleared to an image.
"Tell me the story again, Sarah!" Toby said excitedly, clamoring for a seat in his older sisters lap. He was almost six now and getting to be pretty big for laps but he insisted every time his sister came home from college that that was where he belonged.
"Which story, Toe?" She asked. She already knew the answer, a small part of her was hoping that for once she would be wrong. She wasn't.
"The one about the girl and the maze-"
"Labyrinth"
"-Same thing, and the Goblin King and the fieries and the little boy!" He finished excitedly, looking up at her with wide eyes. She sighed and wiped his hair out of his eyes.
"Let's do a different one today, ok Toe?"
"But why?"
"Yes Sarah, you should be proud of yourself. You've got a book published and you're not even done with college yet. Why not flaunt it about some?" Karen said, walking into the living room and plumping cushions and other meaningless things stay at home moms find to do once all the vacuuming and dusting is done.
"I just don't feel like telling that one, is all." Sarah replied, looking down like she always did when she wasn't telling the full story. For a brief moment she looked almost guilty but it was gone when she next looked up. "I'm just tired of it, I guess."
"Aw but Sarahhh!" Toby whined, making the pouty face. "C'mon, please, please, please? You're never home to tell me stories anymore. If I have to hear the story about Cinderella one more time I'm going to scream!"
"Sarah-" Karen began.
"Oh, alright, alright already." She moaned, rubbing her temples. Home for ten minutes and already they were giving her a headache. She readjusted Toby in her lap so her legs wouldn't fall asleep and she began to tell the story.
Hours later, Sarah was sitting on her old bed, gazing about at her childhood memories. She looked longingly at the little dog stuffed animal, the goblin book ends, and yes, even the figurine on her vanity table. She hadn't seen them in such a long time…
She got to her feet and wandered to the vanity, winding up the familiar music box as she passed it. Then she settled on the little seat and avoided her reflection, opting instead to study the little figuring of the Goblin King. He looked much fiercer in porcelain, but he lacked all the intensity in his gaze, all the charm in his voice, the magic in his movements. She ran her fingers lightly over it.
"That was quite an enthralling tale earlier, Sarah. I must say." came a voice behind her. She glanced up in the mirror to see the real Goblin King, Jareth, standing there looking straight into her eyes. It was the way Hoggle had communicated with her that first year back, sort of a phone apparently.
"What are you doing? Why are you here?" She demanded, feeling her pulse quicken. He let out a low, throaty chuckle.
"Why don't you turn and face me Sarah, pet." He replied, crossing his arms. She turned then and sure enough he was standing in the middle of her room, making everything in it, including her look dwarfed in comparison. His presence seemed to fill the very air, an intense electricity crackled in the air. Magic.
"Oh." She said simply, words and breath flying from her instantly.
"Hello Sarah." He said, smiling in that smug way of his as he adjusted his glove a little. She noted that the smile didn't reach his eyes. They remained cold and disapproving. She got up and tried to move across the room to the door. It wouldn't open.
"Why can't I leave my room?" She demanded, coming back and glaring up at him.
"We need to have a chat." He replied. She tried the door handle again. Nope, not budging. She glanced back up at him. He looked down his nose at her before motioning towards the door with his head. "It's for everyone's protection."
"Let me out of my damn room. You can't do this!" she shrieked, pushing him. "You have no power over me, you don't! You can't do this!"
"But I can, and I will." He replied, catching her wrists as she fought against him. He pushed her gently so she sat on her bed, still holding her arms. "Until midnight, neither of us leave this room. We're going to have a discussion, Sarah dear."
"I'm not your dear." She spat back, glaring at him as coldly as she could. He simply gave that smile of his before turning away and walking to sit in a chair that suddenly appeared in the center of her room. She tried to stand and try the door again but found she couldn't make any movement to get up at all. Her arms and legs moved freely but when she attempted to use them to stand, she found it wouldn't happen. "Why can't I move?"
"Because you're just going to try running again." He replied as a steaming goblet appeared in his hand. He sipped it before offering it to her. She shook her head stubbornly and looked towards the window. "Let's get to business, shall we?"
Sarah wanted to remain stubbornly silent. She wanted to stare out that window until her eyes fell out. Wanted to stay stony until he got bored and went away. Still, she had a curious side and his statement was appealing to it. He knew what buttons to push and she hated that more than anything. Finally, she turned to him, "What business? I've already beaten the Labyrinth, what more could you want with me?"
"That's quite an extensive list, do we really want to go into that?" He replied, raising his eyebrows. When the blush pooled over her face, he chuckled again. "I thought not. No, I am strictly here on business concerning this novel of yours."
"Oh crap, was I supposed to get rights to use that material or something?" She demanded, slapping herself in the head. Jareth started a little at the action but said nothing as she ranted to herself in typical Sarah fashion. "I figured it wouldn't be an issue since people would just look at it and laugh. Nobody actually believes that stuff, it's fiction… at least that's what it's been published under. If I were to try and get it published as memoir or something they'd give me some pretty funny looks."
"No, this isn't about your blatant plagiarism. It is, however, about what people believe is true or not." He explained, frowning as he saw her hand almost itching to strike out- whether at herself or him he couldn't be sure. "It's creating a lot of problems. Not only do you depict me as some heinous monster, but it's actually causing people to quit the Labyrinth before they even begin. I've had three people actually on the brink of trying up and run when they realized who I was. It wasn't the Labyrinth that scared them, it was me. May I ask why?"
"What do you mean?" She whispered.
"Why are they terrified of me? What have you written?"
"Only the truth."
"Truth?!" He practically yelled. She trembled a little. The very lighting of the room seemed to shudder and darken briefly. Then he passed a hand in front of his face and was calm once more. "Truth. I have news for you Sarah. I have actually read this rubbish and none of the stuff about me is truth."
"Of course it is. I wrote down everything you did to me and my friends while I was trying to solve that nasty Labyrinth!" She argued.
"Yes, but did you honestly know what was going through my head as in your novel you so clearly seem to think you do? What, were you a mind reader, Sarah?" He demanded. "Why, you seemed to think me a tyrannical jerk bent on world domination or something… and what's this obsession with hair gel all about? My hair is naturally a… 'porcupine mess' I believed you dubbed it."
"Well, what was there to read?" She jutted out her chin bravely. "Your actions spoke loud enough for even the most simple person to assume your motives and thoughts."
"Indeed and only a simpleton seemed to be the one running through my Labyrinth and guessing at my thoughts- because they were all incorrect, Sarah." He sneered. "I was not thinking the whole time about how wonderful it would be to have Toby for a new lavatory cleaner, you foolish girl!"
"How dare you-"
"You are a foolish girl! You were a foolish girl then and you're still a foolish girl now! Whether you may ever change is a question I pondered to myself when skimming over that trash of yours." He said harshly, stopping the words in her throat. It was the harshest critique of her book so far and it caused a lump to form in her throat. He sighed, once more passing a hand over his face. "Forgive me, I did not intend to be so harsh. I've lost my temper."
"So, what's your side of the story then?" She asked, her voice strong as ever despite the glistening in her eyes. It almost pained him to see her so near to tears and because of something he said. Almost being the key word. He was still to infuriated about what her little tale was causing in his world to really care how bad she felt about it. She deserved to feel bad. He was positive she did and the Goblin King never doubted his own judgment.
"Would you really care to sit still and listen to it then?"
"Well, I'm not saying I'll believe it, but I'll listen. You've got me trapped here with you until midnight remember? And you better be telling me the truth on that one too- if 12:01 rolls around and I still can't move, I'm taking drastic measures." She promised.
"No need to threaten, Sarah" He replied. "Very well, my side of the story. Of course we must go back to that day in the park I suppose…"
A/N~ Jedi Mind Trick: you will review this chapter.