A Game of Life and Death
By: Lazeralk
A Labyrinth/Forbidden Game crossover
Dedicated to Taharkah Alexandra
Standard disclaimers apply.
Warnings: This story is AU for the end of The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith
Chapter 1: "I am Not Sulking."
Sarah Williams was officially pist. The truly ridiculous amount of homework being required by her teachers prior to final exams was enough to make her wish she were back in the Labyrinth. Wait, scratch that, nothing could make her wish to be back in that nightmare.
Her head pounded as she scanned the pages of her senior English textbook. English was easily her best subject, but if she had to do one more research paper she'd scream. Loudly too. She scratched a few things down about the themes illustrated in Macbeth in comparison to Beowulf and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
She was eighteen now, blossoming into womanhood with such flare that her father often joked that he would soon have to sit on the porch with a shot gun to ward off all the boys. Toby, whom she'd become ferociously protective of, was turning four in a few days. She was in charge of the party plans, as if she didn't have anything better to do.
Rolling her eyes at the thought, she decided she'd have a quiet dinner at home and a cake for him and then let the goblins throw a wild party for him after her dad and Karen had gone to bed.
Happy with the decision, she closed her English book and pulled her Trigonometry book closer, eyeing the cover with distaste. God, she hated math.
Jareth, mighty King of Goblins, Lord of the Labyrinth, prince of the hands of Dream and Crystal, was sulking in his room. Not brooding or pouting or even plotting, he was sulking, though he would have tossed anyone in the Bog of Eternal Stench for saying so, except for Sarah that is.
Ah Sarah, the very root of his demeanor. A stupid, mortal, beautiful, silly, willful, glorious, irritating girl that had gone and smashed his world to bits. The really tiny kind that stuck to the bottom of your shoes and wouldn't come off. Running a hand through his untamable blonde hair, he folded his hands over his stomach and refused to admit that he was miserable.
He fingered the silk coverlet on his massive bed, stared down at the shiny tops of his boots as they lay on the expensive material. He leaned back against the headboard and gazed up at his ceiling. He had every comfort imaginable, ever luxury available, he was amazingly powerful, utterly irresistible, what more could he want?
He tapped his toes together and pouted, yes, the Goblin King pouted. And very cutely too, I might add. He lifted one set of fingers loosely and a crystal appeared, he just wasn't in the mood for dramatics and that in itself was testament to just how terribly depressed he was. He gazed at the flawless crystal orb, and it was just a crystal, patiently awaiting his magical instructions.
He lifted it before his eyes and saw only the distorted image of his bedroom door. He wanted to see Sarah.
No! No he didn't, he was perfectly happy without her thank you very much, he didn't need any mortal girl to make him happy. He wasn't going to check on her. Nope, not going to do it, you couldn't make him even if you threatened him with the Bog.
He glared at the image that was forming in the crystal despite his feelings and his face froze.
There she was, his lovely Sarah laying on her stomach on the floor of her room, books and papers spread out everywhere, pencils sticking out at odd angels from her hair and sitting before her was a long piece of paper that had "Final Exam Study Guide" printed in bold letters on the top.
Damnit. He didn't want to see her. He didn't need to see her so why was his crystal showing him this? He focused on something else, anything else but the image never wavered. He jerked his head but couldn't seem to pry his eyes away from her.
"She's grown." He mused to himself aloud. She had indeed, her legs were far longer than he remembered, her hair pulled into a tight French braid that fell to one side and trailed across the carpet for a good foot and a half. He could only imagine how long it would be down.
It would be beautiful, a flowing curtain of chocolate silk that fell around her shoulders and made her skin shine with moonlight.
Jareth blanched, she's not that pretty! She's just some mortal. Mortals are ugly, mortals are ugly, Fae are beautiful, mortals are ugly, Fae are beautiful, Fae are ugly, mortals are beautiful. Wait, no that's wrong.
He sighed and watched as she threw down the pencil she was using and rubbed her temples, a look of pain crossed her face and he bolted upright. She must have a headache. He watched her and yearned for her to be better, he wanted to kiss away her pain and…sit down and shut up and not care about some silly little girl!
Well maybe not that little anymore, and ooh, the possibilities.
"Arg!" he yelled and threw the crystal at his door in a childish display of frustration. The crystal shattered and a dent appeared in the otherwise smooth wood. The magic of the castle gave him a little zap before repairing it, telling him in it's own way how utterly foolish he was being.
He glanced at his bedside table and saw that he somehow managed to conjure a glass a water and two tiny blue pills that he had no idea what to do with. He picked one up and read the tiny script that had been carved into the pill. "Aleve." Whatever that was, some sort of headache remedy. Great, now he was unconsciously summoning things for the little human brat who he absolutely did not care about in the least! The Fates were obviously playing a joke on him, that had to be it.
He banished the pills and water with a thought and settled back into his pillows to sulk some more as he'd been doing for the last…three years now? My, how the time does fly.
A knock interrupted his mental battle with himself about not caring for the silly human girl. He glared at the door, not that it did much, and hunkered down at ignore whoever was disturbing him and pout.
"Jareth! Jareth you open this door right now!" came the voice of his life long best friend. He'd known Julian since boyhood, and they'd sort of grown up together. Being the youngest of the Shadowmen made him some three hundred years older than his young Fae companion. The age difference was little enough that it didn't matter though and Jareth grew far more quickly than Julian anyway so it about evened out.
"Go away." He said quietly, knowing that Julian would hear him no matter how softly he spoke. It was one of those weird Shadowmen things that always irked him.
"No, I will not go away, open the door!" demanded the other man, proving that he had heard his friend and causing Jareth to scowl at the spot he guessed Julian's face would be on the other side.
"No." answered the sulking king, tapping his shoes together again.
He heard Julian sigh and then felt the first prickling of power. Julian appeared next to the bed as if by magic. Jareth scowled some more.
Julian brushed his own blond hair out of his true blue eyes and glared at his best friend. The genie, as Jareth called him because he knew it annoyed the other to no end, wore a white shirt with French cuffs and black jeans. Jareth frowned at the choice of clothes, much preferring his own leathers and silks.
"This had better not be about that girl again Jareth, I'm sick of this."
"And if it is?" replied the king haughtily.
"Will you get over her already?! Either forget about her or go get her, one or the other! No more sulking!"
"I am not sulking." Said Jareth as he tapped his toes together.
"Yes you are. So what will it be? Do I go and get a room ready or do I call up Jenny and see if she can find you a date? You might like Dee, she's a very spirited girl since you seem to like that type."
"Sarah hates me. She'll never come back willingly, and I can't bring her here unless she's wished here or something similar." He said sourly.
Julian sighed; sometimes he hated having such a temperamental best friend.
"You Fae are so melodramatic." He quipped before sitting down on the bed and trying to figure out a way to fix this.
Sarah slammed her book closed and let out a relieved sigh.
"Yes. Finally finished." She whispered to herself as she stood and groaned as her back cracked loudly. She stretched some more before heading out her door and down the stairs for something to eat. She passed Karen on her way to the kitchen, stoically ignoring her.
When Sarah had unexpectedly taken to Toby's care her father and stepmother had been a little concerned but otherwise pleased. When she began talking to Toby about the Labyrinth all the time they were worried, and when they found out that she honestly believed in her story Karen had demanded that she be sent to a psychologist.
Sarah had been forced into three months worth of after school sessions with a shrink and diagnosed with delusional schizophrenia before she publicly declared her hatred for the older woman. She hadn't said another word about the Labyrinth after that and even cut her chats with Hoggle down to once every two weeks. She completely ignored her stepmother and even went so far as to call her 'the bitch who lives at my house' when questioned about her.
She opened the fridge and rummaged around until she found one of those pre-made sub sandwiches they sell at grocery stores. She cut it in half and threw it in the microwave for half a minute then settled down in front of the TV with her snack. She absently flipped through the channels as Toby pulled his small body up on the couch beside her. She ignored him until he poked her in the ribs.
"What's up squirt?" she asked pulling off a chunk of her sandwich and handing it to him. He took it and chewed on it for a while before settling down with his head on her lap. She put on a cartoon for him and relaxed.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Have you thought of a way to get Sarah to come here yet?" snapped Jareth.
Julian scowled at him.
"You could challenge her to a game." He suggested after a pause.
"Like you did with Jenny? One run through the Labyrinth and she hates me, what do you think even more games will do to my nonexistent relationship with her?" asked the Goblin King irritably.
"Well, I don't know! You have a better idea? Why don't you go there and ask her out on a date or something?" yelled an equally agitated Julian.
Jareth gave him a look that should have set things on fire.
"Ok, maybe not. Why don't you…I don't know, ask her to come here and…and help you do something." Said Julian grasping at straws.
"Help me do something? Like what?" asked Jareth skeptically.
"Something! Anything! I really don't care at this point. I've only had to court one mortal and I did that with a series of games. Humans are nothing like us Underground folk, I don't know what you should do." Admitted the Shadowman, running a hand through his bangs.
Jareth sat down on his bed with a heavy sigh. He looked down at his feet and tapped his toes together.
"You're sulking again. Stop it!" growled Julian.
Jareth pouted.
"I am not sulking."
End part 1