Okay, this is going to be more than one song. Disclaimer: I don't own labyrinth nor do I own Traveling soldier.
Two days past eighteen
He was waiting for the bus in his army greens
Sat down in a booth in a café there
Gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair
She was so happy to be living out on her own. Though she wouldn't be moving yet for a couple of months, the excitement was killing her. Her dad and Karen had surprised her two days ago during her eighteenth birthday party. They'd payed the down payment and the first month's rent on an apartment that was just cheap enough to afford with what she made. It wasn't much and she had to finish high school first. But that was fine, she didn't plan to be a waitress forever. And she could be happy settling into life until it was time to move on to bigger and better things.
That was when she saw him. The café was empty except for that one man. He was here, she didn't need to see his odd eyes or elaborate outfits to know, in fact all she could really see is the back of his head. But she knew. He wore an olive green rocker tee and a pair of skinny jeans, that would be just like him wouldn't it, if he dressed in regular clothes that was. Perfectly normal yet abnormal, the kind of thing she'd seen in here hundreds of times but also the kind of thing that was new and oddly refreshing. It had to be him. So with almost giddy anticipation, she picked up her order pad and adjusted the simple blue uniform.
The other waitress, Georgia, was young and attractive. Her hair was a fiery red and fell in massive curls around her freckled face. But for all of her youth, being only fifteen, her big blue eyes shined with age old wisdom. "Someone you know?
She smiled vaguely. What if she was wrong? What if it wasn't him? It had to be. This feeling she recognized almost immediately had all but disappeared after three years, but now it was strong and fresh. She couldn't believe that there was another reason. "An old friend." She replied. How else was she supposed to describe him to an outsider?
Georgia just smiled. "He's all yours then, girl."
"Thank you." Sarah took a deep breath and went to stand beside his table while he finished ordering, as she'd been trained to do. He hadn't looked up from the menu like most, but kept right on reading it. She could be glad he didn't see the quick look of relief she felt when she saw the pendant he still wore around his neck. The labyrinth's insignia. Straightening, she did her best to look professional, no need to announce that the Goblin King's presence effected her any. "Good afternoon, what can I get for you today?"
He looked up, blinked. He had only stopped in for a cup of coffee and a hot meal. And he hadn't intended to see her. No, when her faith in his world started to fade he'd lost all ability to keep an eye on her. So he never could have known what picking this small town coffee shop would mean. Rather he was waiting for a bus because one of the passengers would be wishing their child away. And unfortunately he couldn't use the power he had to get into a moving vehicle.
He summed her up in a couple of glances, noting every change that had occurred with age and experience. Did she realize how innocent, how pretty she looked with that bow in her hair? A white one to match the trim on her uniform. He cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. "I'll have coffee. No cream, no sugar."
He's a little shy so she gives him a smile
And he said, "Would you mind sitting down for a while
And talking to me, I'm feeling a little low."
She said, "I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go."
He looked so shy, she mused, as if he didn't know how to act now that they were on even ground. She'd been there, with Karen a year ago, and she found she could relax. Easy now, she smiled. "I didn't realize goblin kings drank coffee."
His smile flashed brilliant and quick. "How else am supposed to handle stubborn little girls?"
"You could always just listen to her." She smirked before looking at him more seriously. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked exhausted. It was obvious he wasn't sleeping, at least not well. "How are you doing, Jareth?" She remembered Hoggle calling him that, so she hoped it was his name and not some kind of odd insult.
"Now that's a complex answer." He wanted nothing more than to draw this out. This was the first time he'd had a conversation with someone who wasn't truly scared of him in years. And he could admit, seeing her again had awakened all these buried emotions and frustrations she'd drawn out of him in the first place. But most important was the fact that he'd had reason to avoid her. Now that she was standing in front of him he'd have to tell her what he knew. If he drew it out he could postpone breaking her heart just a little bit longer "Do you have time to talk?"
"Alright." She nodded, scribbling down her coffee order. "I get off in an hour. There's a place, it's quite beautiful, we can go there if you want. Can you wait around?"
Forget the child, he decided, his eyes never once looking off of her. At the present time it was probably a bad idea to bring children and runners into the underground anytime soon. "Yeah, I can wait."
She just nodded and went to get his coffee. Georgia came up and leaned against the counter as she watched Sarah. "Ice or fire?"
Sarah just smiled, one of those feminine smiles meant to drive a man crazy, Jareth's direction. "Definitely kindling."
So they went down and they sat on the pier
He said, "I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care
I've got no one to send a letter to,
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you?"
"So, where are we going?" Jareth asked as they strolled down the sidewalk. She just smiled and kept on walking, even when she led Jareth off the cement and down a dirt trail. Eventually they reached a large lake. He stood staring at the horizon and the beauty of the trees against the water, here was peace he'd never seen. Then he looked at her and he couldn't help but smile. She stood on the pier, waiting for him, the sun at her back. She'd changed out of her uniform, though she still wore the bow in her long brown hair. In jeans and a simple black shirt, he didn't think she'd looked that elegant even at in the crystal ball.
"Are you coming?" She simply laughed and sat down. Casually she waited as he sat down next to her. "So, are you going to tell me what's on your mind?"
"The Underground is on the verge of civil war." He spoke slowly, carefully. "I've done everything I could but it's inevitable."
"I see." In wars people die, people who have families and friends, that was just as inevitable. She wondered if she could ask Jareth if she could get her friends out, but that was an issue for another time. She bit her lip. "What started it?"
"Me, or more, the fact that my brother took a sudden interest in my throne. I didn't think much of it at first. But now..." He didn't want to tell her. Not while she seemed so willing to wipe the slate and start over between them. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, and it was news no one could take well.
"What changed?" She reached over to rest her hand on his, when he turned his hand over she entwined their fingers in an effort to comfort him since he was so obviously distressed.
"He acted before we thought he would. And because he's smart, he went straight for the city, took the long way around through the bog of eternal stench." Her hand pulled away and he immediately missed the warmth it'd held. Because he hadn't even finished telling her and she already looked devastated. The last thing she was was slow, he'd figured that out quick years ago. But he kept talking, she needed to hear it, to have it confirmed. "Sir Didymus and Ludo were at the post, guarding the bridge when they came through. By the time my men got there they were already dead. I wish I knew what to say to you, but the only words I have are I'm sorry."
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks and she kept wiping at them only to have her cheeks wet again two seconds later. He wrapped an arm around her, pulled her against him. As her tears dampened his shirt, he kept her close. It seemed odd, but he too had grown attached to the insane creatures as he'd kept a close eye on them after an odd incident involving several of the goblins and sneezing powder. They sat there for more than an hour, and the sun was just beginning to set when she spoke again. "What are you going to do?"
He hadn't been sure of that, but sitting here, he couldn't be more sure of his choice. "We go to war. I lead my people into battle. Nobody gets to kill my citizens without consequences."
"What if you get hurt?" She didn't want to lose another, not when there were so few she actually cared for. "You can't die."
That part was almost as certain as the war, but he couldn't tell her that. He tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "You should forget about me, forget about the Underground, and move on with your life. You probably have a boyfriend that's waiting for you and you shouldn't be thinking about war and death while your with him. You deserve to be happy, and you can't do that if you hold onto us." She was about to say something. "But I don't want you to. Your the one person I can truly talk to, so I'd like to write to you if that's alright."
"I'd be worried if you didn't." She turned her face up to look at him, her light eyes met his mismatched ones. "Just come back when it's all over. Please, promise me you'll come back alive."
He didn't want to make a promise that would be almost impossible to keep. They probably would never see each other after today. But he couldn't help but whisper, "I promise."
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waiting on the love of a traveling soldier
She waited for the first letter, worrying Karen with her sullen silence and her new habit of sitting in her room for hours and hours. After school, Karen walked in to find Sarah sitting on the couch, staring into space. "Why don't you go out or something?" Karen fisted her hands at her hips. "I'm tired of your moping around here for no reason."
"You know nothing of my reasons." Sarah glared at her, reverting back to the defensiveness she always felt when around Karen. "And even if I wanted to go out, which I don't, it's not like there's anywhere to go, or anyone to go with."
"You have friends, you just don't talk to them." Karen sat on the arm rest of the couch. "If you want to sit around and let them think you don't care, then that's your choice."
"I will go out, Karen." Sarah sighed finally. "Just as soon as one of my friends contacts me and let's me know what's going on. Otherwise I won't be able to enjoy whatever it is I'm doing."
Karen looked at her with what could have been sympathy if Sarah didn't know that look by heart, manipulative. "And where is this friend?"
"He's at war." She answered curtly, crossing her arms in a pout.
"Sarah," Karen rolled her eyes dramatically. " Your young. If you're waiting for some soldier to come back and whisk you away you'll just be waiting You need to find yourself a nice boyfriend, start moving things into your apartment, and start college. You can't do that if you're sitting around for someone."
"You don't know what your talking about." She shot up and just looked at her with hateful eyes. "You've been controlling me for years. For once, just once, can you not talk to me like the decisions about my life aren't mine to make?"
"Sarah, I..." But she was already gone and Karen could only sit there, knowing that her stepdaughter's heart would do more than break, it'd shatter.
Our love will never end
Waiting for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone
When a letter says a soldier's coming home
So the letters came from an army camp
In California, then Vietnam
And he told her of his heart
Might be loving all of the things he was so scared of
She got the first letter a week later. It was waiting for her in her room when she came home from school. More specifically, it slipped half way through the mirror and stopped, the surface around it rippling like a silver lake. Carefully she pulled it out and looked at it.
It didn't surprise her that she didn't find herself more fascinated with the mirror. It was a mild thing compared to some of the things she'd seen on her way through the labyrinth. Her dreams were still filled, even more lately ever, with Escher rooms and masked balls. At the moment, all of her attention was focused on the beautiful handwriting on the top of the envelope that simply said "Sarah." She'd never seen his handwriting before, it was just like him.
She was extra cautious when peeling open the lip of the envelope, unfolded the letter as if it would just vanish if she was too rough with it. In it, Jareth told her of life in the castle these days, the complications that went with preparing for war. He reminded her that time was different to them in the Labyrinth and it seemed like ages since they were together. And he told her of the funeral they'd had, the graves that stand in the center of the Goblin City to remind him, to remind everyone why they were going to war. He told her of Hoggle and how he had named him his second in command. There was no one he trusted more. He wished her happiness in whatever she was doing in the Aboveground, and told her he was happier when he thought about her.
She dug out a piece of paper and a pen and told him of things happening on her side of the mirror. Of lighter things and happier memories she had of him and her friends. And she asked him to tell Hoggle that he wasn't allowed to die either. When she finally slipped her letter into her own envelope and carefully printed his name, she felt a little better for just having contact with him.
She slid it back into the glass. And on impulse, she slipped her fingers through the glass as well. It was dry, the same temperature as her room. And then she felt him, their fingers brushed and in that moment neither of them even breathed. Their hands entwined like they had at the pier and both knew this in itself was it's own little miracle, that they were together whether a whole world separated them or not. She wanted to see him, but short of stepping through the mirror, that wasn't going to happen. As Karen pounded on her door angrily, Sarah looked back at it. She must have been calling to her for minutes, and was probably furious by now. Giving his hand one last squeeze, she drew away and watched the letter disappear the rest of the way through the mirror.
Sometimes letters would come every day, sometimes it'd be more than a week before she received a word. He mentioned that they'd set up a camp outside of the Labyrinth's doors, in order to keep the fight away from innocent civilians. He told her his fears and his deepest thoughts along with the good things that happened. Some of his letters were filled with light and humor while others were dark and serious. And she never failed to write back, not once, even when there was nothing she thought would be interesting in relation to everything going on in his own world.
Said when it's getting kinda rough over here
I think of that day sitting down at the pier
And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile
Don't worry but I won't be able to write for a while
The last letter she'd received was a solemn one. He apologized for everything he'd done to try and hurt her those years past, even though he'd tried before and she'd told him not to be stupid. He said he needed her to hear it. And he told her how he could see her standing with the sun at her back. How sometimes, when they'd lost people in battle or things got too much, that image of her at the pier was the only thing that kept him from losing everything. But he wasn't going to be able to write for a long time. And she wasn't supposed to worry about either him or Hoggle. He'd do everything he could to keep his promise.
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waiting for the love of a traveling soldier
She waited for what felt like ages. Though it had only been a couple of months since that one letter. Every day the sick feeling in his stomach grew worse. She didn't talk to anybody much, but she settled into her apartment enough to get her space so that she couldn't hurt Karen and her father with her unsteady demeanor, she'd seen them watching her.
So it came to that day, when rain poured down from the sky, that her father came to her apartment with a mission to make her talk. When she opened the door she only frowned at him. He didn't know what to think, it was obvious she hardly ate, she hardly slept, she looked like a zombie standing in front of him. He looked at her with a smile, determined to be nice."Can I come in?"
Sarah didn't want to talk to anybody, not while the dream she'd had was so fresh in her mind. All that blood, and the lifeless look in Jareth's eyes as he laid in the middle of a great battlefield. But she supposed if anyone was going to understand, it would be him. "Yeah, sure." She opened the door the rest of the way, gesturing to the TV. "I'm waiting for the cable guy."
He just nodded, leaned on the counter of her tiny kitchenette. "Karen told me about your friend, I also happen to know that nobody in the neighborhood joined up in the last several months." He leveled his eyes on her. "Do you care to explain that?"
Sarah had really grown to appreciate her father over the last couple of years, enough that she hadn't lied to him about anything, even the little things. Especially since she woke up and saw exactly how much he did for her and Toby every day, starting with just being there when they woke up in the morning. But how did she explain what she'd done to Toby and everything she'd done to get him back to someone who was so sensible, so sound. What reason and logic do you give when your entire world is filled with insanity and definitely overall surreality? "He's not from here."
"Where's he from?" He hated the feeling that he was interrogating someone.
"Somewhere else."
"You'll have to do better than that, kiddo." He told her, giving her the stare that he'd used to get information out of her for years.
"Alright." She sat down heavily on the shabby couch she'd picked up at a garage sale for fifty bucks. It was entirely comfortable and perfect when she didn't care who would be coming into her apartment. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but I'll tell you." And she started from the beginning, with how she'd wished Toby way, to facing Jareth in the Escher room, to sitting on the pier and discussing war, and finally to that last, painful letter.
And when there was nothing more to tell, he sat there and looked at her like she'd just told him the week's weather forecast, and nothing less normal than that. After a minute, his expression changed to a slight dejection only a parent and child share. "You never told me this, any of this."
"At first I thought you'd assume I was either making it up for attention or certifiably insane." She leaned back, took a really deep breath to soothe her own emotions. It felt like she was about to cry again, she'd done a lot of that lately. "And after a while, I was worried that you'd be so disappointed in me, weak enough to try and rid myself of my own little brother. I didn't want you to be disappointed."
"You could never disappoint me." He reached over to take his daughter in his arms as he acknowledged the signs of a breakdown. If everything she'd told him was accurate, it was no wonder. And she did cry, she found she still had tears to shed, as she clung to him. "Do you love him, this king?" He asked when her weeping had become only tremors and sniffles.
"Yeah." She pulled away, scrubbed at her red eyes. "I'm pretty sure I do."
"Then you have to trust that he will survive." He told her, releasing her from his hold as he got up to answer the knock at her door. "Your king sounds like he can take care of himself anyway."
"Yeah." She smiled vaguely as the cable man lumbered in. The guy looked competent, competent enough to know that something emotional had just gone on between them and not to make small talk. "That I can."
Our love will never end
Waiting for the soldier to come back again
Nevermore to be alone
When a letter says the soldier's coming home
One Friday night at a football game
The Lord's prayer said and the anthem sang
A man said, "folks, would you bow your heads
For a list of local Vietnam dead."
The family had come over to watch the Super Bowl, Karen had insisted on it seeing as Sarah had refused to have a real housewarming party. In the small kitchenette, Karen was making chili while her dad pretended to be helping. Toby sat on Sarah's lap, still breathing heavily from their latest tickle war. The bow she wore in her hair was lopsided, crooked, and loose.
It had only been a few months, but in the Underground it had been a whole year since he'd last written to her. And the thick dread only grew worse, was he still away or had something happened to him? Would she ever know for certain whether or not he was alive? Who was supposed to tell her that he'd passed? Still, it was hard to concentrate on such things when a child was squirming in her lap. "Toby, please sit still. Even if it's only for a minute."
"You're sad." Toby looked at her with the easy care of an almost six year old. "Your supposed to be happy. Dad told Mom you need to smile more."
"I do smile, Toby." She wrapped her arms around him and held his little body against her. "Just not as often as I used to."
"But you're pretty when you smile." Toby continued to look at her, seeming to know that something was off, even when he couldn't identify it. "Don't you want to look pretty?"
Before she could answer there was a shout and a small crash from her bedroom. Karen stopped what she was doing. "What was that?"
"I'll check." Sarah assured her as she nudged Toby off of her lap. She got up and walked into the bedroom. And the first thing she saw was Hoggle, desperately trying to pick himself up before she saw. "Hoggle." Was all she managed to get out as she fell on her knees and hugged him with a fierceness she didn't know she possessed. But when all he did was pat her shoulder, she became aware of the black fabric in his hand and his slightly changed demeanor. "Something happened, didn't it."
"Sarah." Hoggle held out the fabric. "Put this on, we have to go now."
"Go?" Her eyes went wide. "Go where?"
"We don't have a lot of time, we need to get back out of the castle before we're caught using the mirror." He shoved it into her hands and she could see now it was a cloak. She looked at him with puzzled eyes. "Your human, the first person to see you will have you for dead. It's a different world now, Sarah, and it's survival of the fittest."
Without a word, she slipped the cloak on, raised the hood over her hair. Then she heard someone say her name so quietly from the doorway. Karen was standing there, her hand on Toby's shoulder. Toby was just grinning, knowing the magic involved. Sarah cleared her throat, "This is Hoggle. I'll be back in a little while, but if I'm not, don't hold up."
Taking that as his cue to leave, Hoggle climbed up on vanity and disappeared through the mirror. She followed him easily, though her height made it a little more difficult. She set foot in a strange room, it was like a study but full of object she'd never seen before. She couldn't stop to observe, Hoggle was already limping his way out.
They moved quickly, neither saying a word as he led her through small hallways and down into a stairwell. The stairwell got dark, and she realized that it was an abandoned part of the castle, one with no lights. "Hoggle," She asked him, positive she hadn't seen anybody for minutes, "What's going on? Every thing's changed."
"Exactly." He stopped, looked up at her. And knew he could tell her nothing but the truth. "Jareth's brother, Cane, has taken over the castle and the surrounding realm."
Sarah could feel her throat slam shut, it was one thing to know in your head, it was much, much worse having it said to you. "Jareth's dead." She confirmed out loud, hoping it would seem more real if she did. "Nobody can kill the Goblin King, but Jareth's dead."
"I wouldn't have gotten you, risked our lives like this," Hoggle grimaced as he pushed open a rather heavy and dessicated wooden door. "But if anybody deserves to mourn, it's you."
She looked at all the people, most of them only going to her waist but there was just enough tall ones so that she could blend in. They all had black cloaks on, and just the sight of the masses made her uneasy. She reached down for Hoggle's hand, was relieved when he didn't pull away. Only now did she realize he too wore a dark cloak and had his head covered. A rather large and burly man stepped forward from the castle balcony. She could see him, standing above them, looking mean and taunting. He was ugly, and she could imagine cruel, his power would be dark and hateful. This was not the ruler the goblins should want. But still they shouted in cheer, and Hoggle mouthed it but no sound came out.
"My friends," The king shouted so that all could hear. "Today, we celebrate the end of the battles, the end of the hurt, and the end of death." The crowd roared. "But there are those who did not survive. In their honor, here is a list of those who died doing what was ordered of them, a remarkable way to die." And so he read off the list, and as those whom many hoped were lost were confirmed dead, weeping could be heard.
Crying all alone under the stands
Was a piccolo player in the marching band
And one name read, but nobody really cared
But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair.
Jareth's name was called about halfway down the list and not a single person besides her and Hoggle were bothered by it. However she didn't notice as she lowered herself to the ground, her sobs taking over her body and causing it to quake. He was gone, that was it, the last thing she needed to lock that truth into place. He'd broken his promise and he was gone.
The names kept coming but she stopped listening, nobody payed any attention to her as they waited for their family member's name. Hoggle placed a hand on her shoulder, patted it in an effort to sooth her. Out of no where she was aware of eyes on her. Her head shot up and standing on the very outskirts of the crowd was a tall hooded figure. His cloak hid his entire body but somehow it felt as if she recognized him. His hood fell back just a little bit and she caught a glimpse of mismatched eyes. She shoved to her feet and at the same moment, someone crossed in front of him. He was gone.
Maybe she'd only imagined it in the moment. Because this was horrible, beyond horrible. "Hoggle." She glanced again at the spot where the man had been standing. "I need to go home, I need to be with my family."
"I understand," Hoggle nodded with a frown, his eyes swept the crowd, and sure enough guards had taken an interest in the mass of people, they should be able to sneak off almost unnoticed. "We'll go."
She started to rise, stopped and settled back down on the ground. "No, I'm going to stay right here for a little bit longer." She couldn't find the tears anymore, but still the overwhelming sense of grief was there. It felt so bitter and cold, cold enough that even as she wrapped her arms around herself she couldn't find any warmth.
I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waiting for the love of a traveling soldier
She felt like she couldn't breath, like the light had been ripped away and all that was left was suffocating darkness. Karen had been right, she shouldn't have let herself love him, but how was she supposed to stop her heart from taking the final leap? She didn't think she'd ever be able to love another like she loved Jareth, and she never even got to tell him. That was probably the hardest part, she'd never be able to say all the things she wanted to. She'd never find another letter in her mirror and she'd never see his eyes flash with annoyance or smile at her. The dance he was saving for her, one he'd mentioned in his letters, they'd never get to have that. He'd never come home.
Our love will never end
Waiting for the soldier to come home again
Nevermore to be alone
When a letter says the soldiers coming home