edit: Just quickly gonna put this out there: I DO NOT OWN LABYRINTH OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS! I wish. Just borrowing them to fulfill my own needs for more Goblin King. All of Labyrinth and the world and characters etc belong to Jim Henson and the other creators of Labyrinth.
An unrelenting beeping sound was what managed to wrench Sarah back to the world of the living. She reached out with a groan and slapped her alarm clock, knocking it to the floor of her bedroom with a satisfying thud.
Swinging her legs out of bed, she sat up and stretched before grabbing her diary from her bedside table and flicking to the day's date. Today she had her meeting with her manager about her latest fantasy novel, something she was certainly not looking forward to. Rolling her eyes as she stumbled lazily to the shower, she chastised herself with a reminder that she was very lucky to have Jessica; despite her stern and too-formal attitude she knew exactly what she was doing with Sarah's writings, and the series Sarah had been working on since she was fresh out of high school would be non-existent if it weren't for her. She brushed her teeth as she stepped under the still warming water of the shower; it was just like her to set an alarm as late as possible to spend those precious extra minutes in the comfort of her bed. Once clean, she dried her hair and glanced disinterestedly towards her wardrobe, pondering what would fight the biting cold of November the most effectively.
She settled on a mossy green jumper that was only slightly more warm than it was itchy over her favourite jeans (again) that hadn't been washed in longer than she cared to admit. Fluffy pink socks slipped over her toes, which she wiggled gleefully as she heard a giggle behind her. Whipping around, she saw a shadow scurry in the corner of her eye.
"Quiet? I can hear you, you know, you're not as sneaky as you think," she called, as a small goblin peered out from behind her bed, eyes twinkling with mischief. Quiet, whose name was the result of a misunderstanding of being told to do so by a certain King its entire life, was a smaller than average goblin with a deep love for food, shiny objects, and causing trouble to anyone in close proximity - although the latter wasn't always deliberate. Quiet was a goblin who attracted bad luck like a magnet, and they just so happened to be one of the few that had followed Sarah to the aboveground after she defeated the Labyrinth nearly thirteen years ago. Sarah was grateful for her companions; after moving out of her childhood home, the magic that linked her mirror to the Underground had - for lack of a better word - snapped, and left her without ways of communication with Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus. She missed them greatly, often recreating their likenesses in her stories.
"Lady Sarah will play hide-and-seek?" Quiet enquired hopefully, pit-pattering closer on tiny feet.
"I wish I could, I have that meeting with Jessica today," Sarah sighed wistfully, absentmindedly tying her long brown hair into a ponytail, a hairstyle that had recently become her signature look. A few strands escaped the elastic prison and fluttered down to rest around her face.
"Can Quiet come with Lady?" the goblin's eyes flashed, which should have been clear warning to Sarah. None of her companions were particularly fond of Jessica, and took great delight in pranking her, despite Sarah's half-hearted protests. They explained it away with 'protecting' their Lady, but Sarah knew it was really for selfish want of pandemonium rather than anything honourable.
"I suppose so, but only if you promise to behave," she warned with an accusing point of the finger. "You really upset her last time. She still doesn't know how her furniture ended up on the ceiling. Nor do I for that matter, you still haven't told me how you managed that." Quiet only giggled in response, scampering out of the bedroom to the rest of the small flat that Sarah called home. After quickly putting on a little mascara and chapstick as an afterthought, Sarah followed and grabbed her shoes.
"Looks like rain," she commented under her breath, looking out of the window and reaching for her waterproof jacket. It wasn't there. "Quiet?"
"Lady Sarah?" the Goblin blinked its discomfortingly large eyes with faux ignorance.
"My jacket?" she asked pointedly. "Would you so happen to know where it is?" The goblin shifted, clasping its small claws together and looking towards its feet.
"Quiet doesn't have Lady Sarah's jacket."
"But?" Sarah sighed impatiently. Usually she didn't mind having to pry answers out of her small goblin friends, but today she had a meeting with her scary-but-efficient manager and despite her alarm was close to running late.
"Stopit may have thought Master Toby would need an extra layer for school today." Quiet smiled sweetly at nobody in particular, secretly proud of his brother's caring nature towards the Williams family. With an exaggerated exasperated sigh, Sarah tried to conceal a smirk and put her hands on her hips.
"Well, I suppose Master Toby's protection against the elements is far too just a cause for me to be too irritated." She rolled her eyes teasingly at the grinning goblin in front of her. "Come on then, I doubt we'll be out long enough to get caught in the rain anyway. Let's be off!" Grabbing her keys, she spun around and left the flat, Quiet close at her heels.
***
"Again? Really?" The Goblin King groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Stopit is sorry, honest, Stopit just wanted to help Master Toby," the goblin explained innocently. "Arglia believes Stopit is helpful to Lady." The last of Sarah's acquired companions finished her explanation, nodding in satisfaction to itself at, in its opinion, a very well thought out and reasonable argument for her brother to not be bogged immediately for stealing Sarah's possessions. Again.
"I really do not have the spare time, or spare magic, to be constantly fixing your brothers' mistakes. Do you realise how long it took for me to de-attach all that furniture from that poor human's ceiling? A good bogging would do them good."
"Arglia could fetch the cloak from Master Toby and return it to Lady Sarah herself?" the goblin spoke up with optimistic anticipation, not noticing the miniscule wince from her King at the mention of the girl's name.
"It's not a cloak, it's a jacket. Jacket." Jareth snapped. Arglia was the most intelligent of the traitor goblins that had followed the champion back to the Aboveground, one Jareth was sorry to see go. She often kept the other goblins is check, especially her brothers - two Jareth was certainly not sorry to say farewell to. To be honest, Jareth had tried to remain bitter at the utter betrayal of those three goblins choosing that mortal over him, but to his own disappointment he couldn't help but feel slightly impressed at the way that girl had charmed his subjects. He knew that a fair few more wished to follow as well, but none had the courage. He was still surprised that three did, despite the threat of the Bog of Eternal Stench looming ominously above their heads.
"Lady's jacket could be fetched by Arglia." Two expecting eyes blinked slowly, cheekily. Jareth sighed, waving his leather-clad fingers gracefully towards the goblin as he looked away in dismissal. Arglia disappeared with a small pop, off to steal back the cloak-jacket as subtly as possible.
"Nearly thirteen of their years and I still can't bear to hear that wretched girl's name." Jareth cursed to himself. At first, when that mortal had beaten him at his own game, his own Labyrinth, he had felt nothing but fury. He had practically begged, he thought in disgust, recalling those words he had whined at her within their last moments; fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave... Yet, as the years passed (and time works differently in the Underground, so it had been many years) he was left with a small sense of admiration and not much else. Maybe a pang of jealousy now and again, a fraction of frustration, perhaps. But that was all. He was actually hopeful to meet her again, but unfortunately the right words she had recited to him forbid him so. You have no power over me. He wouldn't be able to speak to the child again until she called for him herself. Although, he pondered thoughtfully, not a child anymore. Nearly thirteen Aboveground years had passed, many more in the Underground. Gods, the babe she had wished away would be nearing his teen years himself! The Goblin King chuckled. He would bet anything that the babe was causing havoc, a little mischief-maker if ever there was one, just like he was as a boy. He had seen it in his eyes all that time ago, that similar craving for catastrophe.
Summoning a crystal with a flick of his wrist, Jareth recalled what that goblin had called the fine fellow - Tony, wasn't it? Yes, that sounded right. He focused on the name whilst picturing how he remembered the babe, stripey babygrow and all. Luckily, the power he drew from the Labyrinth knew what he meant as an image of Toby Williams emerged from the fog in the magic orb. He was small for his age, with a mass of dirty blonde curls atop his head, filled to the brim with nervous energy. He was peering curiously into his locker, pulling out a rather feminine looking brown jacket. Jareth couldn't judge the lad though, it's not as though his own clothes conformed to the Aboveground's standards of masculinity after all. As soon as Toby had pulled the garment clear from his locker, he dropped it with a jolt, and together he and the Goblin King watched as the the jacket slid at great speed down the hallway, between student's legs and eventually, to freedom through the front entrance and out into the awaiting rain. Popping the crystal, Jareth couldn't help but release a throaty cackle at Arglia's idea of subtle.
***
Toby blinked a few times after the runaway jacket, but decided to think no more of it until he could ask Sarah about it later. Strange occurrences seemed to follow him everywhere, especially when his sister was involved. She would usually brush away his questions with a knowing smile, or a certain look towards a dark corner of the room - but he hadn't particularly minded the secrecy as it had never really caused him any trouble. Toby had just learned to associate unexplained and mysterious oddities with Sarah. At this point, it was just a part of who she was; a woman in her mid-twenties who still hadn't grown out of fairy tales, surrounded in a bizarre aura of mayhem and hushed giggles that seemed to come from nowhere.
For as long as he could remember, Toby had been extremely close to his older sister. He had grown up with her magical bed-time stories and grand ideas of a parallel world hidden from human knowledge; even after she had moved out Sarah had always made sure she had time for her brother. Toby was always the first to hear her new plans for her book series, and his opinions and advice were held in high regard. His favourite characters were the goblins: small scheming creatures who lived in a bustling town surrounding a castle. Sarah never went into much detail about who lived in the castle, though, and he wasn't completely sure why; he assumed there would be some sort of leader - maybe a bigger, scarier goblin? However, that aspect of Sarah's fantasy world was currently still left to the reader's imagination.
The bell rang and jolted Toby from his daydreams. Slamming his locker shut, he adjusted the straps of his too-heavy backpack and headed to his next class.