Chapter One :: Memories Past

The outdoor air was crisp and fresh. A blazing ball of light rose high above the green land, its ray shining warmly down on the small town. And as the pool of blue above the community tricked people into going outside, Helena sat in her room - on her bed, legs and arms crossed. Her two older brothers were out with their friends, and her parents were downstaires 'chatting'. And by that they meant watching 24 on television, while cross-stiching and eatting. Well, my father was, thankfully, not doing and needlework. At the young age of seven the girl was already fairly well matured, metally at least. She was still rather short with all of the innocence in her apperence that she lacked in her soul. Her gaze never left the window. Her eyes stayed put on watching the tree outside her room, hoping and waiting for a streak of white.

A streak of white that belonged to a rather majestic owl, who often perched outside her window - listening to every word the girl could pour out to him. Though Helena wasn't a neive little girl, and she knew the owl was not really an owl. She had since she had first seen him two years ago. And at the age of six the animal had admitted to her predictions, and showed himself as the true being that he was. A king. A goblin king of a far away place called The Labyrinth - located in the Underground. The brunette had sat there the whole time, not looking a tad bit shocked or frightened. Her emotions never changed as he told her all about the wonderful place and all the creatures and magic inside. Once he had silenced he expected a yelp of joy or awe - but all he got was a strange look from the girl and the simple sentence "Are you a pedophile?".

After a few hours of disscusion with the child who seemed to challenege his wit and authority, he decided to take her to the Labyrinth. All the young girl had done was shrug, stand up, and follow him through the window and into the new world. But once she had entered that place. The oh so fairy-tale like place, things began to change. Her eyes lit up and a wide smile tugged at her mouth. Her skin seemed to glow with happiness and she soon ran away from the king and through the medieval castle, eventually slowing to a skip. The entire time Jareth had been chuckling to himself and chasing after the little girl, treating her like his own little sister. He had scooped her up and spun her around, danced with her on his shoes, and given her a piggy-back ride through the castle. She seemed to all of a sudden bring out a rather light-hearted boy out of the fierce goblin king, something that she never seemed to notice. But he did. And with that, he decided that maybe having her around when he was rather gloomy would brighten his spirits, and the Labyrinth's image.

Over the next year the two had become very close, in a non-creepy way, and Helena began to view him not only as an entertaining person to be around, but her best friend. She had never been that good at socializing herself. She had always been the creepy kid who liked to write stories and draw little vampires and the like. But Jareth didn't seem to care, and he treated her as if she was no different than anyone else. And the child appreciated that. So she stuck close to him, made sure to try and seem him every other day, and made sure that no one found out. He was a secret. The Labyrinth was a secret. Her entire life seemed to be a secret. And truthfully, she didn't really mind.

A good half hour passed with nothing, and with a rather disappointed sigh Helena rose from her bed and to the mirror that stood across the room. She ran a small brush through her dark brown hair, straightening it even more than it naturally was. Her bright blue eyes moved from her face to the ground, and slowly her nose began to burn. In reality she was worried. She hadn't seen the king in over three days now. It didn't seem like that long, but every time he would be gone for a while he left her a note on the pillow. And sure, she knew it was weird that a man of his age hung out with her - but in the Underground it seemed completely normal. Maybe he could be courting a young lady, or on a trip with the rest of kings and queens or whatever they were. But she missed him. She was a seven year old girl who missed her best friend. What else was she to do?

She sat down the brush on a desk and bowed her head, moving to sit on a wooden chair a few inches from her. She laid her arms on the desk and her face went onto the mahogany desk, a single tear dripping from her eye. And soon she was silently sobbing. Her eyes puffed and her heart began to swell at the pain. As her hair and forearms became covered with the salty water she tried to stop and regain herself, but nothing she could mumble to herself would help. So she kept her position. Whimpering and sniffing. And after a few more moments when the tears were still going, she felt a presence behind her. A warm hand laid on her shoulder, covering it completely, and hot breath flew to her neck.

"Did you really miss me that much? Come my dear, I might be entertaining, but I am not worth tears."

A rather velvety like voiced carried itself to her ears, and Helena turned her head up to see him. Her tear streaken face seemed to suddenly gain a new feeling of joy and she jumped out of her seat and into his arms. Jareth merely chuckled at her greeting, and patted her back with on hand, and rested the other under her backside to support her. With the girl firmly wrapped around his neck and his hands holding on to her they were face to face and he could see the somewhat depressing side she had. It tugged at his heart really, to see this normally happy child in such a state - even though he had just cheered her tremendously.

He moved the hand that rested on her back to wipe away the tears on her face, and he began to feel his eyes burn. But he wasn't going to cry. He hadn't cried since he was a young child, much younger than she was now. But still his lip quievered for a moment before he regained himself, taking in a deep breath to flow out his emotions. "Are you okay Jareth?" Her voice still cracked and gurgled do to the almost twenty minutes she had spent in that complete meltdown. He nodded softly and held her up high before making her loosen her grip on him. Instead of putting her down like everyone else would do to her he threw her into the air a few inches and catched her, whirling her back into place. A small giggle escaped from her, and he too smiled broadly. "Can we go now?" Taking a moment to think things over he sat her on the bed and took a seat beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"We can. Go to the Labyrinth that is. But I have to warn you, the fierys are quite... erm... rambuctious right now so you best stay in the castle with me, alright?" He would have rather used the word 'pissed', but he didn't want to completely drown the girls of all manners and lady likeness. She nodded gleefully, ready to leave but he pulled her back down and look her rather seriously in the eye. "Now Helena, I need you to promise me you won't wander off. I know you, I know you will try to go see that little worm and his friends or something if I don't make you commit. So, swear you won't get in trouble?" She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms again. "By getting in trouble do you mean not leaving?" His eyes narrowed, and yet he gave her a playful smirk - while sounding out a very low 'yes'. Her eyes rolled again and the took his hand and shook it. "As long as you promise that I can get some of the candy!" Ah, the goblin candy. Even if it didn't sound very tasteful, it was like heaven on earth with every bite. He laughed again and the shook her hand, and pulled her up off the bed.

"So I am guessing the young lady is ready to go?" His voice was teasing again as his hand whisked some of her hair from behind her head to in front of her eyes. Tightening her face and sticking out her lower lip she blew away the hair and looked up at him. "I am not young!" Oh but her voice disagreed tremendously. "Of course your not." And with that, they were gone, reappearing in the Labyrinth for yet another day of adventure and amusment for him, and joy and wonder for her.