Insert standard disclaimer as I do not own anything related to Labyrinthn and will not profit from the use of the characters.

The Loneliest Guy - Chapter One

The dark figure sat hunched over a piece of parchment, quill held tightly in a shaking hand. "Damn!" He dropped the quill on the desk and rubbed his hands together, as if trying to make them heed their master's command. "Curse my feeble digits, I must finish this before it's too late. Sarah will be here and I may not have time…" Jareth picked the quill up and continued to scribble the words on the parchment. His stunted movements showed how he struggled to complete the pages.

So much had happened in the last twenty years. Twenty human years! The fates had truly been cruel. Of course, the truth is, it was all his own fault and he knew it. If only he hadn't miscalculated. How could Sarah have turned him down? How could she have failed to recognize her faithful servant and confidant wasn't a human man named John but had been him, Jareth, the Goblin King all along? So many questions and not nearly enough answers. And so, twenty years ago his 'punishment' had begun.

Twenty years ago…

The High King had summoned Jareth to the court. Jareth knew it couldn't possibly be for anything other than Sarah's victory over him and the labyrinth. And he was right, of course. His majesty was most displeased. The lecture lasted over an hour, during which time Jareth was forced to kneel on the hard marble floor of the Avalon palace. The questions, all rhetorical, never seemed to end. 'How did this happen? What were you thinking? Are you certain you made the girl's journey challenging enough? And what was that proposal? What were you thinking?' Over and over, until Jareth was sure his ears would bleed.

The truth was, there was no explanation that he could give. He simply couldn't tell the High King that he had fallen in love with a young girl, not yet sixteen, and that he wanted her to be his queen. Of course, he had intended to have her stay with his sister and her husband in the Pixie queendom until she was of an age suitable for courtship. And he would court her as was prescribed by the traditions of the Seelie court. For maybe the first time in his life, he was prepared to not try to find a loophole to cheat the rules. In truth, Jareth was quite young for a Fae. He had not yet reached his two hundredth year, making him, in human terms, just a few years older than Sarah herself. It's comical to think that she probably saw him as much older than he was. The Fae age similarly to humans until around their thirty-fifth year and then the aging process slows down so drastically that centuries can go by without a noticeable change in appearance.

Directly after the High King was done scolding Jareth, his sentence was pronounced: "Jareth, I hereby strip you of your magic, title and kingdom. Your cousin, Hamish, will be made regent of the Goblin Kingdom, since he is already Duke of The Goblin Forest. He will rule while you are stripped of your magic and sent to live in the Aboveground as servant to Sarah Lynn Williams. She will not be able to recognize you from your outward appearance nor from your voice. And while her memories and yours as well, will be untouched, you will not be able to tell her who you are. If she realizes who you are and declares her love for you, both of you would be returned to the Goblin Kingdom. You will have twenty human years to win her heart. But, if she should fail to declare her love for you, you will fade away, never to be heard of again."

All Jareth could do was gape at the king. Banishment to the Above? Stripped of title, kingdom and magic? It was too much to bear! Jareth turned his head towards the gallery and spied his mother amongst the courtiers. Tears were glistening in her blue eyes but her face was as cold and expressionless as if carved from stone. Oh no, there would be no sympathy or comfort coming from his mother. The tears were for her own shame, not for the pending loss of her only son. Jareth and Roslyn had grown up in likely the coldest family in all the Underground. Lilith and Jorund had a tumultuous, arranged marriage. Jareth was the issue from that union. His father was killed fighting off a sluagh attack on their villa. Lilith, being the unfeeling female that she was, found herself another mate right away, but refused to marry him. Torger fell completely under Lilith's spell. Roslyn was his daughter, but he happily played father to Jareth as well for the few years they stayed together as a family. One day, Jareth and Roslyn came home from boarding school and everything that belonged to Torger, even the smallest thing that would have shown he had ever existed, was gone! When Roslyn asked their mother where he was, she was rewarded with a harsh slap across the face.

"You will never speak his name again!" Lilith shrieked at the child and her bewildered brother.

From that day forward, life in the villa became unbearable. Jareth chose to stay at school full time, working with the healers and wizards to learn every type of magic, mastering them all. He led a very sheltered life, cloistered with the learned men. Roslyn continued to go home from school and when the time came, Roslyn was betrothed to the son of the Pixie Queen. Prince Alaric was good to Roslyn, so Jareth needed not worry about her. Her life seemed to have fallen into a happy trajectory.

When the time came to pass that Jareth was done with his studies, he went home to see his mother. "Hello, Lilith. You're looking well, I see." Jareth sneered at his mother, refusing to give her that title.

"The prodigal returns. And to what do I owe this great honor? Surely not out of devotion or love for your mater?" Lilith scowled at him, showing her full distain for her son.

"My studies are complete and I have come to bid you farewell. I am going to his majesty to ask to be allowed to challenge the labyrinth. I am hoping to be crowned Goblin King."

"Ha ha ha, oh Jareth! You are far too young to be crowned king! It would indeed be miraculous for you achieve so much when you are only 150 years old. Why, you are practically a child!"

"I am more powerful than you can comprehend, so I need not wonder that you would not believe that I am more than ready to meet this challenge. Farewell, Lilith." He disappeared in a cloud of glitter.

From that point on, Jareth's life went exactly as he planned: he succeeded in completing the labyrinth, was crowned Goblin King, and through his alliance with the labyrinth, his magic grew immensely and he became an exceedingly powerful Fae! He ruled over the realm for over forty years, until a certain young woman wished her half-brother away to the goblins.

Now, he was to be banished to the Above, to be a servant in the home of Sarah's mother. He was changed into a human, looking to be about thirty-five, with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was average looking, but still attractive with an east coast accent. His name was John Martins and he would be in charge of the Williams household staff. Sarah stilled lived with her father, step-mother and Toby. But things were about to take a drastic and tragic change.

While on a business trip in August of 1987, Robert and Irene Williams were killed when their plane, Northwest flight 255 crashed, killing 148 of the 149 passengers and all crew on board. Toby was sent to live with Irene's parents and sixteen year old Sarah went to live with her mother, Linda and Linda's husband, Jeremy York. The young woman was deeply saddened to have lost her entire family as the result of that crash. Sarah was extremely depressed when she showed up on the doorsteps of the large house of her mother's. She rang the bell and an unknown man opened the door.

"Ah, you must be Miss Sarah. My, but you are even more lovely than your mother." A friendly smile and the twinkling of hazel eyes made Sarah smile the first smile since the tragedy.

"Yes, I'm Sarah. Please don't call me 'Miss Sarah': it sounds so stuffy. You know my name, but I don't know yours. Who are you?" Sarah challenged the man, a brave look on her face.

"Oh, I apologize. I am John, the head of staff here. I must beg your forgiveness but your mother and the master are not here. They have rehearsals and won't be here before the weekend. I am charged with seeing to your every need."

"Barely here and mom abandons me again." Her face changed quickly from friendly to sullen and withdrawn, her chin trembling as she tried to stop the tears already threatening to spill from pale, green eyes.

"Please Miss Sarah, no tears. I am sure you have cried an ocean. Give your eyes and heart a rest." John motioned for a servant to collect her baggage to remove it to her suite. "Come into the salon, I have some refreshments waiting." He extended his hand and upon their touching, a spark flashed and they both felt a static charge jump between them.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. Must be the carpet and the friction from the soles of my shoes causing a charge." He smiled and offered his arm as he led her from the foyer, down the hall and to the right. He guided her expertly to a seat. "Here, have a seat. Do you drink tea?"

Sarah nodded. She accepted the tea. "Why are you so nice to me?" Her voice quivered as she cautiously sipped the steaming Earl Grey tea from a fine China cup.

John shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to one side, not unlike a bird does. "I'm doing my job: I'm charged with seeing to your comfort."

"I don't buy that. You don't need to be this nice for your job. So, tell me!" Sarah leaned in and placed the cup on its saucer and stared him in the eyes.

"My, but you're direct. Are you always this forward with men you don't know?" He tried to seem annoyed but the twinkle in his eyes gave him away. She could tell he was teasing her.

"I prefer to be direct. I'm careful to measure the words I use, so I don't cause myself any more trouble…" she nibbled on the side of her thumb nervously.

"Alright, alright, I'll confess. I am being nice to you because I think you need a friend, okay?" He looked at her with sincerity and compassion. " You've lost your father, step-mother, the home you lived in, your friends and community, but most importantly, your little brother." He smiled a kind smile. "And before you suspect me, I haven't spied on you nor do I make it a habit to stalk young women. I heard the mistress yelling with the master about you." He placed a comforting hand on her hand.

"They were yelling at each other because of me?" The tears started to gather again in her eyes.

"Your mother insisted you come to live here but the master was against it. She persuaded him to come to her side when she told him that something good needed to come from this tragedy and she was determined to be a mother to you. She said she didn't want to squander this second chance and he wasn't going to ruin it for her…or for you, either." John patted her hand reassuringly.

"Linda fought for, for me? Really?" He nodded in the affirmative. "Wow. I didn't think I mattered to her at all. Maybe we can be close after all?" Sarah wiped the tears out of her eyes with the heels of her palms.

"Promise me you won't mention this or I think I'll get fired. And I like this job, at least for the pay." He winked at her and she smiled and blushed.

"Not a word, cross my heart." She beamed at him and his heart did flips in his chest. He tried to open his mouth and tell her who he really was but he couldn't part lips to even blow a puff of air out. Curse this punishment! If he could just tell her…

"Okay, John," she said as she rose from her seat and grabbed his hand in hers, "take me to my room and then you can show me around. I don't want to get lost and since you're my new friend, it's up to you to lead the way."

"If you should need me, just say the right words and I'll fly to your side." He bowed before you, like a prince at court. Sarah stared at him, shocked by the odd way the words sounded familiar, like she had heard before. But, that wasn't possible. She had just met him. And she did need a friend. She had four days until her mother and Jeremy would be home and she desperately wanted to fit in.

Over the next four days, Jareth had a shadow: Sarah. She followed him everywhere he went. She was on his heels from 7 a.m. on. He instructed the kitchen staff as to the daily menu, she was there. He spoke to the chamber maids, she was there. He inventoried the pantry and refrigerator, she was right by his side. In between his tasks, he did his best to point out anything she ought to make note of and finally got her to eat lunch at table since she refused to stop the tour for breakfast, eating a breakfast bar on the go.

The time flew by and Sarah had adopted the habit of eating all her meals in the kitchen with John and the rest of the staff. And so they sat, Thursday evening, in the kitchen: John, Sarah, Connie the cook, Donna and Phyllis, the chamber maids, Max the chauffeur and Julio the Gardner. In the short time Sarah had been there, the entire staff had become friends with her.

Suddenly, or at least so it seemed, it was Saturday morning. Sarah had spent a fitful night tossing and turning and gave up being in bed by 5 am. She arose, showered and dressed in an age appropriate outfit, one of the nicest she owned. She wasn't sure why but she really wanted to look her best. She hadn't seen her mother in person in two years. It was at her wedding to Jeremy and her father had required she go. It was a very tense occasion. Oh, how she wanted to have a fresh start.

She hurried down the stairs to dash into the kitchen. Sarah knew John would be in the kitchen eating a light breakfast of coffee, toast and fruit. He was becoming as necessary to her life as breathing. He made her feel special, important and cared for. Why did she feel like she knew him? It wasn't possible but he seemed so familiar. "Good morning, John. When do you expect them to arrive?"

Jareth smiled warmly. How he looked forward to her kind greeting and friendly smile. If only he could reveal who he was, he was certain she would willingly return to the Goblin Kingdom. Alas, that bloody punishment would keep him from telling her the truth. "I expect that they should be here around 9 am, as usual. Your mother is truly a creature of habit and holds to her schedules tightly." He patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"I'm not scared but I'm a little worried. What if they changed their mind and don't want me? Will they ship me off to boarding school, do you think?"

"Sarah, calm yourself. I'm sure it won't be as bad as you imagine. Give yourself a chance." Just then a chime sounded. "There, they've past the gate. Let's go meet them at the door." Jareth took Sarah's hand firmly in his as they moved to the main entrance.

A long, black limousine pulled up to the main entrance and Max popped out and hurried to open the door. Linda York's Prada clad foot stretched out the car door onto the driveway, followed closely by the rest of her. At thirty-five, she was still as beautiful and slender as ever. "Sarah! Oh, my sweet girl!" She pulled a stunned Sarah into a warm embrace. "Oh, sweetheart, you poor thing. I'm so sorry for all you've had to endure. Come, let's go to the salon and get reacquainted." Turning her head as she walked, she called over her shoulder, "John, brings us tea and biscuits right away. Now, Sarah, tell me all about you."