In Love With the Girl
Story # 0235
by Kaline Reine

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, or any of the characters or settings from it. It belongs to the Jim Henson company. ;) I also don't own the character of Lila Uriel, she belongs to Miru88.

WARNINGS: This story will contain graphic adult content, at some point. The pairings are JarethXOC and later JarethXSarah.

This fic is written for Miru88 b/c she is awesome! :D

Chapter 1:

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl whose stepmother always made her stay home with the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child, and wanted everything to himself, and the young girl was practically a slave.

But what no one knew… is that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain powers.

So one night, when the baby had be particularly cruel to her, she called on the goblins for help!

"Say the right words," The goblins said, "And we'll take the baby to the castle, and you will be free!"

But the girl knew, that the Goblin King would keep the baby in his castle for ever and ever and ever, and turn it into a goblin! And so the girl suffered in silence. Until one day, when she was tired from a day of housework, and she was hurt by the harsh words of her stepmother, and she could stand it no longer…

"I can bear it no longer! Goblin King, Goblin King! Wherever you may be! Come and take this child far away from me!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Big brown eyes darted around the room, looking for something safe… Lila's mother had just finished scolding her again, for what felt like the hundredth tiny petty problem. Something so minuscule, it shouldn't even be a problem.

The girl sighed, and went back to her chores. She knew better than to argue. Long dark brown hair flowed down her back neatly, and hung loose as she worked. She was wearing an average dress, nothing too fancy. But it did look very nice on her.

Lila Uriel was from a very poor town… Her name had Hebrew origins, though it was difficult to tell. Even though the town was poor, she and her family were not suffering. …Or at least they weren't. They were far from rich, but lived a pretty comfortable life.

The girl, being the eldest, and their only daughter, did all of the housework for them. It saved them a lot of money for labor and cleaning, after all.

"And I need you to watch your brother while we're gone," Her stepmother added, in an almost mocking tone.

Lila knew that things would be like this. She wasn't even surprised that she was being made to stay home and watch him… again. But it wasn't like she really minded. After all, Lila loved kids. And she would never do anything to hurt him. Her brother was everything to her. Sometimes she felt like he was the only one who really understood her.

That evening, her father and stepmother didn't even say goodbye to her. They just left her with the baby.

Lila's neighbors were even crueler than her own parents, in her opinion. Even right now, she could hear them arguing. They always fought like that… What worried her was the fact that they, too, had a child. A baby, much like her own brother. But that one was a girl. Most of the time they fought over what most couples did: Money.

"Fine! You can just leave then!" The woman was shrieking at the top of her lungs now. "And take that spoiled little brat with you!"

"No way! She's your responsibility now!"

"I don't want her!"

Uh oh…

"Well neither do I!"

The woman had a look of pure hate in her eyes. Of course, Lila couldn't see it, because she was in her own home. The walls were paper-thin and the girl could hear everything from next door. But she could hear it in the woman's shrill voice. She dreaded what was to come next… It couldn't be good.

"Goblin King, Goblin King! Wherever you may be! Come and take this child far away from me!"

There was a local legend about some kind of Goblin King, who would take unwanted children away from their parents. Of course most of the time, people thought it was a myth… There was still that small fragment of hope left in the human psyche, though. That tiny piece of belief that made everyone want to try it, just once… In the vague hopes that it just might work. The entire town was quite familiar with this story.

Legends weren't for nothing, after all…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A man with spiky blonde hair sat in the middle of a crowded room in a very old and grotesque looking chair…

Jareth, King of the Goblins, sat in his throne room, bored. He was entertaining himself counting chickens, for a time… But that had long since grown old. And besides, the goblins kept interrupting him in the middle of his pointless task, anyway.

He heard the faint calls of a child being wished away. He sighed, and rose from the throne, grabbing his cloak. He conjured a crystal, plucked right from the air, to see who his next target was. A married woman had wished her only daughter away, out of spite to her husband.

"Typical," He sneered.

In a flash, he was on his way to the land of the living. The Underground was left behind him for now.

He arrived in what looked like a small, poor town. No wonder those people had been arguing. Her wish would be granted, but would she defy him? He would see… With hasty steps, he made his way to the same house he had seen in his crystal ball.

But then there was… warmth nearby. He could sense someone with a kind and pure heart. A young girl had piqued his interest. Jareth moved closer to the girl's house, and watched her through the window. He was drawn in, by the beautiful warmth that lie in her heart. She too was taking care of a baby. He could tell that she was being made to slave over it, every day.

Instantly, he was smitten with her. The Goblin King wanted to know more about her… So he watched her, for quite a while before making his move... For the moment, he had completely forgotten his task of collecting the other child.

Lila was cleaning up after her brother again, when she felt like she was being watched. Something that made her hair stand on end… When she turned around, she was face to face with a most intimidating man. He had wild blonde hair, and big black boots. His brown pants fit him tightly, and his black silky-looking shirt was ruffled and open in the front. All of this was in front of the dramatic backdrop of his black cape. It was worn and frayed on the ends.

"What do you want?"

Instantly, her defenses were up. Lila had kind of a hard shell on the outside, that she had learned to put up in order to avoid being hurt by everyone. Her wit was sharp, as was her tongue.

"I am the Goblin King," He spoke tenderly to her, but did not move. Mismatched eyes met her own light brown ones. "I can see that you've been slaving over this baby, day in and day out…"

"That does not concern you," Lila glared at the man. "How dare you intrude on me like this! You can't have him."

"Pardon?"

"I've heard all about you… You take children from their families, and turn them into goblins!"

Jareth had to chuckle at that. The girl found herself liking his smile more and more, but she didn't let on. "My dear, I wouldn't dream of it… Unless of course you want me to. I was sent here to take away another child this night…"

"I heard what she said. Don't take their baby…"

Her eyes were pleading with him now. Lila looked very sad.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Lila… Lila Uriel," She responded quietly.

"Lila… I have a gift for you."

With a flick of his wrist, there was a crystalline orb that appeared. He rolled it up one arm, down the other, and dropped it on the floor. Lila's world was spinning. She became dizzy and disoriented for a moment. When she regained her balance, he was gone.

Lila felt confused for a moment, but… Where had he gone? What had he done to her? She saw a shadowy figure at the neighbor's door. In a fit of panic, and fear for the well-being of that child, she ran over there, taking her brother with her. She definitely wasn't going to leave him alone. Not at a time like this.

"Can I help you?" The man from next door asked Jareth.

"I'm here for the child," He explained simply.

The woman, who was apparently his wife, stumbled backward, just as Lila walked up. "I-it can't be…"

"The Goblin King, at your service," Jareth appeared inside the room, and took the baby girl from her crib. "I'll be taking this. You didn't want it."

"Wait!" Lila cried. "Don't they get a chance?"

"Ah yes… Will either of you be taking a chance in my Labyrinth, to win your daughter back?"

Both parents shook their heads no, dumbly. They stared at the scene before them in awe. They never thought it would really work… It had been too easy!

Lila knew that this had nothing to do with her… But she had to help!

"No! This isn't right, it isn't fair! Stop it!"

"Life isn't fair," Jareth told her. "You have a lot of growing up to do, Lila. Would you like me to take that one off your hands, too?"

"What?! No!" She pulled her brother away, clutching him tightly. "I may not be fond of taking care of him all the time, but… I care about my baby brother. I would never give him to you!"

"Very well then. Use my gift wisely, precious."

He made to leave, but a small tug on his cape stopped him short. Jareth gazed at her, with one eyebrow in an elegant arch.

Her eyes looked liquefied, as if she were ready to cry. "Please… It's so cruel of you to take their child. Don't take her away… I'll keep her!"

He laughed. "You? You can barely even handle that one."

"Fine. If they won't run your Labyrinth for her sake, then I will. I accept your challenge, Goblin King."

The poor girl. She really was adamant about this… Jareth could only pity her. He did not truly understand how she could be so selfless. Why did she care so much about someone she didn't even know? Times were hard, and people were selfish right now.

"Lila…" He sighed, a brief droplet of sadness showing in his own eyes. "I want very much to do as you ask… But… It's against the rules."

"Rules?"

"Yes. Only the person who had wished the child away may take the challenge to win them back. No one can substitute for them. She will become one of my goblins."

"Please spare the child. That's such a cruel thing to do."

It was beyond all reason. She truly didn't care about anything else, but saving this child.

"I'm sorry."

He faded away, into the darkness.

Lila walked back to her house, before her parents got home. If they caught her meddling in other people's business, she was sure to be punished. She went back inside, and put her sleeping brother back to bed.

She thought about it more and more… She didn't understand what the King had meant by a "gift". Had it been when that weird crystal had been dropped? She wasn't sure. But she didn't feel any different now than she had before. Poor Lila couldn't spend too much time thinking it over; she had work to do.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: I haven't read any Labyrinth fics in forever, so forgive me if I don't know what's going on in the fandom right now. XD I used to write them then I took a big break from it. So maybe I'm a little rusty… I'm slowly getting back into all this now. This fic starts out as JarethXOC but later on it will move into JarethXSarah, you'll see. Anyway, I hope you like it! I have so many ideas for this, and it was a lot of fun. I combined both of our ideas into one and it seems to be working. ;) Reviews are welcomed.

-Kaline Reine