A/N: This was originally written for Challenge 18 at the Labyfic LiveJournal community in October.
She was eight years old and she was hiding in the garden. Her father stomped around, loudly wondering where she could be. She giggled and wiggled further into the roots of the tree she was hiding behind, until he ran around the trunk and picked her up, swinging her around the yard. She screamed and laughed as her father held onto her.
Hide and seek had never been one of her favorite games. She preferred playing make believe, where she could be the center of attention, rather than trying to avoid being noticed. (Besides, she had begun to suspect her parents of suggesting the game when she was being noisy and they didn't really want to play with her.) But sometimes it was worth those couple of minutes in the dark for the joy of being found again.
She was ten and she was spending a lot more time hiding nowadays. She was out in the garden, but she knew no one was coming to seek her. They were fighting again, and she was hiding in fairytales to keep from hearing the nasty words her parents threw at each other. Inside the house was too crowded. Instead she came out and spent hours as the star of her stories, living between the words of a comforting tale where she was the most important part, and no one fought. Eventually someone would come for her (usually her father, her mother would be locked in their room with her temper), but until then she would remain in her own world.
She was fourteen, and it felt like she was always hiding these days. No one really cared where she was, as long as she was there when they wanted something. It had been bad enough when Karen had first come around and Sarah was only seen to make a mistake, but now that the baby was here, it was as if no one saw her at all. All anyone could see was the precious baby, no one had a glance to spare for the teenage sister. Half-sister anyway, she wasn't really a part of the happy little family they had created, just a leftover that had fallen through the cracks and was occasionally useful for changing diapers.
So she spent her time creating ever more intricate fantasies. She had moved on from the silly make-believe she had played at when she was little, now she put on performances, elaborate productions where she was the star, preparing for the day when she would follow in her mother's footsteps, and no one would ever forget her again.
She was fifteen and it was her turn to seek. Her brother was hidden in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, and as much as she was well and truly tired of him most days, she couldn't stand for him to be lost forever because of her stupid mistake. She was the hero of the story, she would find the child, defeat the Goblin King, and return home victorious. That was the way the story went.
She was eighteen and she was hiding in a shadowy hallway. She was wearing a shimmering masterpiece of a gown and had just run away from a crowded ballroom, but that was where the similarities to her previous dancing experience ended. The dress was wrong, for one thing. Instead of the plain white of her peach-induced dream, this gown was a rich and wonderful red. It hovered just above the edge of diving into blood red, instead emulating the crimson of a rose in full bloom. (Karen had taken her shopping and had been reduced to tears when she had tried it on. 'Reminds me of my own prom,' she'd sighed wistfully.)
For another thing, though he was a rotten thief and a villain and had tried to stop her from rescuing her baby brother, the Goblin King at least had manners as a dancing partner. Unlike the repellent boy she had just abandoned.
She had been so pleased when he had asked her to prom. She knew him to be a nice guy from theater, and he had been a gentleman about his proposal, with a beautiful rose and flattering words. He had even seemed agreeable enough when he had picked her up that evening. His suit was neat, his dad's car was polished, and he brought a lovely corsage for her, though she would admit to being too caught up in her own excitement and finery to pay much attention to her date. Once they had arrived, Sarah had immediately dragged him to the crowded dance floor. She had been having fun to start with, but as the night wore on she spent more time worrying about her partner's hands than enjoying herself. She had finally grabbed his wrists, shoved them into his chest, and stomped away, pushing her way through the other couples.
Now she was stuck in a back hallway she had found, wondering how she was supposed to get home. Beyond the matter of her pride, she was very uncomfortable with the idea of being stuck in a confined space with her date. She sighed and slumped down the wall. She had been having such wonderful dreams of this night, and it had almost been perfect. Now, instead of dancing around the room, dazzling as the belle of the ball, she was sitting on the floor hiding.
She narrowed her eyes and stood up, brushing herself off and fixing the folds of her dress to their original perfection. That was enough of sulking in corners. She had come here because she wanted to, and no boy was going to get in the way of that. She would shine on her own terms and she would not be forgotten.
She was twenty and hiding in the library. It was the week before finals, she had papers to write and tests to study for, but she was convinced just at the moment that if she kept her eyes closed and was very, very still, maybe the encroaching deadlines and responsibilities wouldn't be able to find her. She was working on her junior year of university and wasn't quite sure what to do with the fact that she was over halfway done her English degree. A couple more semesters, and she would be out in the world, accomplishing her dreams.
Of course, her dreams had changed since she was younger, everyone's did. There weren't nearly as many ballerinas or firefighters or astronauts in the world as you would predict based on the career ambitions of children. She had grown up, and though she retained her imagination, she had lost her taste for performing for others. She turned instead to capturing the stories she created on paper, binding them to be shared in another way. Still, she held onto the belief that had fueled her early fantasies. It would be hard to let it go when she could still see old friends in a mirror when she called.
She didn't talk to them as much as she used to. She had barely seen them at all her first year at school; dorms were not conducive to visits from fairy tale creatures, both in terms of space and privacy. Even after she had moved to an apartment with friends, where she had her own room, it was hard to get back into the habit. She did see other creatures around sometimes, ones no one else seemed to notice. Mostly goblins, always working mischief, but there were others she saw out of the corner of her eye that she didn't know how to identify and that would disappear before she could try.
She had realized quickly after her experience in the Labyrinth how little the hours she had spent there had taught her about the realm. She had asked her friends about the Labyrinth and the Underground, but Hoggle was the only one who came close to helping. Ludo's limited vocabulary stunted in-depth conversation, and while Sir Didymus' tales of adventure were inspiring, they didn't contain much in the way of informative facts. Hoggle at least knew about the different creatures in the Labyrinth, but his knowledge was almost entirely centered around how to avoid them. Some days, she would wonder about the one creature she had encountered in her travels who would almost certainly have the ability to answer all of her questions, but calling the Goblin King over for a chat just didn't seem the best of ideas.
She didn't fear him as she once had, though a healthy amount of respect for the power he appeared to wield seemed appropriate. After years of reflection, she had grudgingly accepted that he had been acting on her own wishes, and though she strongly disagreed with his methods and the necessity of the more life-endangering parts of her quest, there was more that she wanted to ask him about than yell at him for.
But really, she had better things to do than to worry about the Goblin King. There were goals to accomplish and a name to be made. (Her dreams may have changed, but her determination for absolute success had not.) At night, the magic she wrote about and the magic she had once felt overlapped and entwined, but then she woke up and there were deadlines waiting, having caught up with her while she slept.
There was too much to be done in this world to waste time on another one. She separated the two, and spent her time writing her own worlds of magic to distract from the curiosity of the one through her mirror. She told herself that there was too much history, that you couldn't take the same path twice, and that she had a life here. So she wrote fairytales, staying hidden on one side of the mirror, and dreamt.
She was twenty two and she was hiding behind a tree, waiting for her brother to pass by. She was back home for a couple weeks in the gap after graduation, before the next stage of her life fully began. She was enjoying spending the time with Toby, who at eight was full of energy. His parents were glad when she took him to the park for a couple hours, neither of them was quite young anymore and keeping up with their son all day while he was on summer vacation was tiring. Toby was supposed to be seeking her at the moment, she had already found him once after they arrived and he ran into the park, yelling behind him for her to start counting.
He was approaching her now, she could hear his footsteps pounding and tried to quiet her breathing as she heard him slow down. She listened carefully, waiting until he was just close enough, then jumped out and grabbed him around the waist. She started tickling him as he squealed, only relenting when he was laughing too hard to breathe.
"No fair!" he gasped, shoving at her while still giggling.
She grinned. "Says who?" She helped him up and ruffled his hair, then pushed him towards the center of the park. "Better start hiding, because I'm starting counting!" He ran off and she smiled, closed her eyes, and started to count.
She found him several minutes later behind a bush. She was about to pounce on him from behind, but he turned and saw her. His eyes widened and he grabbed her leg, dragging her down to him and shushing loudly. Bewildered, she let herself be pulled to the ground. He turned back to the bush he was hiding behind and pointed.
"Look," he whispered excitedly.
She raised her brows and tried to maneuver herself to see where he was pointing. She gasped. In a gap between the branches, she could see a tawny barn owl sitting on a post, regally overlooking the park.
"It's been there the whole time," Toby whispered at her side. "I saw it when I was running over there, so I came here to hide so I could see it better, 'cause I thought it was really weird 'cause aren't owls only supposed to be up at night? So then I was watching him and then he looked at me, and he really looked at me, Sarah! But then he went back to looking like that again, 'cept he looks at people sometimes, like his head was looking at you when you were looking for me. But don't you think it's really weird? I don't think I ever got to see an owl before, did you?"
Sarah started at the owl. "Yeah, really weird," she said. There were hundreds of possibilities for the owl's presence running through her mind. She looked at her brother and paused. "He's probably just really lost," she said. She stood up, brushing the dirt off her knees. "Come on, it's my turn to hide, and I bet you can't find me this time!"
The game of hide and seek eventually devolved into tag until they both collapsed on the grass. They ate the snacks Sarah had brought, then played make-believe, where Toby was a pirate, a cowboy, and a space explorer before it was time to go home. Sarah had seen the owl around while they were playing, always keeping an eye on it, and it was still there when they left. As they passed by the tree it was currently perched in, Sarah stopped to look up at it, with hands on her hips and raised eyebrows. The owl held her gaze for a moment, then ruffled his feathers uncomfortably and looked straight ahead, pretending not to notice her. She rolled her eyes and turned to follow Toby back home.
Later that night, after she had read a story to Toby and his parents were asleep, she left the house and went out into the backyard. She stood away from the house and looked towards the trees at the edge of the yard.
"Goblin King, I know you're there," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "And I would like to talk to you, but I'm not doing that when only one of us has a mouth instead of a beak. Feel free to join me, if you'd like."
There was no immediate response. She carefully examined the tree line, alert for any movement.
"As always, I live to abide by your wishes, Sarah."
The voice came from behind her and she whipped around to face him. There he was, looking intimidating in black armor, almost exactly as she remembered, though maybe not quite as tall as he had seemed then.
"Whatever could you want to discuss?" he asked. Her eyebrows lifted.
"I really feel like I should be the one asking that," she said. "You're the one who came here first after all."
He moved his hand, conjuring a crystal and rolling it around. "Am I not permitted to look in on the wellbeing of…past acquaintances? It has been seven years, as you count, since we spoke after all."
"Yes, it has." She shifted on her feet, looking at him. "So how long have you been watching Toby and me for?"
He continued manipulating the crystal between his hands, looking down at her imperiously. "I do have better things to do with my time than chase after mortal girls. I spent thirteen hours on your whims, that was quite enough."
She felt the anger he was obviously trying to provoke push her to snap back at him, maybe get in a good shot and then return inside, never to deal with arrogant, condescending Goblin Kings again. Instead, she paused and considered his words. She smiled.
"You poor thing," she said dryly. "How you must be suffering, spending all this time in my presence. You're the very picture of nobility, wasting your valuable time to check on me, purely from the goodness of your heart. I am obviously honored to be the continued recipient of your generosity."
She paused, but he didn't reply, only glowered at her. The look on his face was heading towards vaguely ominous, and the crystal in his hands had been joined by two others.
"You must have so many more important things to do than talk to me. After all, the game's already been played, and we both know how that ended, so hardly any more interest here, is there?"
He was scowling quite fiercely at the crystals now, but still made no move to leave or reply. She took a deep breath. She had spent hours considering her next move that evening. She just had to go through with it.
"Or," she continued, cautiously, "if whatever important reason you decided to watch us today might inspire you to go the park again tomorrow, I might be inclined to invite you to actually join us. It's much more polite than hiding in trees. But," she added quickly, as his head picked up sharply, his expression completely shocked, "you have to promise me not to hurt Toby, or, and, that he won't be harmed in any way."
He looked absolutely offended at this, as if the thought of him hurting Toby was unbelievable, and she fought the urge to laugh, the kidnapper being offended at the insinuation that he would hurt the child.
"I never had any intentions to harm him or cause him any unhappiness," he insisted. She raised her eyebrows and would have replied but he cut her off. "I swear he will not come to any harm in my presence."
She nodded, but paused as another thought occurred to her. "And he has to stay here, Aboveground, with me," she added hurriedly.
"Well, now, that's rather restrictive," he grinned.
"Jareth," she snapped.
"Peace, love. I propose this: I swear I will not take Toby anywhere without your willing consent."
She considered his words for a moment, and was about to agree, when another thought occurred. "And me too! Both parts, no harm, and no taking me anywhere."
He sighed, still grinning. "You are determined to eliminate any joy in my life," She simply glared. "Very well, I swear that no harm will come to you in my presence, nor shall I transport you anywhere without your permission."
"Thank you," she said. She looked down at her hands, somewhat overwhelmed at what she had just agreed to. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then? Toby and I will probably head over after lunch, so we'll definitely be there by one."
"I look forward to it, precious," he said, bowing to her. She moved to return to the house. "Do you require an escort, my dear? I should hate for you to get turned around on the way to your bed, I'd be happy to accompany you,"
"Goodnight, Jareth." She rolled her eyes.
"Are you certain? I feel responsible for your safety, darling, perhaps I should spend the night with you, just to make sure you make it to the morrow."
"Goodnight, Jareth," she repeated, her hand on the door. He appeared next to her suddenly, taking her other hand in his.
"Goodnight, Sarah," he whispered. His hand was warm and his gloves were soft and she found air suddenly to be in shorter supply than it had been a moment before as he leaned over and quickly kissed the back of her hand, barely brushing the skin. He smiled at her, and before she managed to catch her breath, he released her. As she watched, he shimmered and blurred, then a familiar barn owl flew away, passing in front of the moon before disappearing.
She smiled to herself, absentmindedly brushing glitter from her clothes before heading inside. She was going to meet the Goblin King with her brother tomorrow, at her suggestion. She had thought it over long and hard before calling him out, but the reality was different from the potential.
She looked in on her brother, who was fast asleep in his own bed, before returning to her room. She was confident the Goblin King would keep his promises, which was somewhat comforting, but there was no way of knowing how the next day would go. Still, at least she would know where he was, instead of trying to keep track of which tree he was lurking in.
She looked out the window at the woods as she got ready for bed. No glowing eyes looked back at her, but she still moved away from the window to change. There had to be a reason for Jareth's return. From where he had been sitting in the park, it seemed like he had wanted to be seen. She didn't think he would let his motivations be discovered so easily.
She smiled. She had always been good at finding things.