A/N:Jareth has major mood swings so be ye warned! I hope you will enjoy!:D
Disclaimer:I do not own Labyrinth nor do I own the song "Hand of Sorrow."
WARNING:This story could get dark and depressing. If you are not looking for a dark depressing story, leave now. Thank you.
Chapter 1: Meeting
Jareth rolled his eyes as he felt a tug leading him to the Aboveground.
"Not again," the Goblin King growled. This had to be the fiftieth call this week. He quickly transformed into his owl form and flew out the window and to a portal. A few seconds had passed when he found himself in an Aboveground park.
The park was a pretty, peaceful, and serene type of place. A river divided the park into two parts. On one side, the one closest to downtown, had a playground/picnic area and a field off to the side of the children's playground used for older kids to play volleyball or soccer.
On the other side of the river was a cemetery, shared by a forest. A few benches were scattered throughout the graveside. Connecting these two halves was a brownstone footbridge.
Jareth landed on a tombstone and watched for whomever had called or will call on him to take someone they can't stand away. He waited for nearly an hour and still there was no connection that told him that the person was there. He silently begged the power that held him there to release him. There was no answer to his silent request.
Finally, as Jareth started brewing up a plan that would help reduce this powerful magic that would most likely get him killed, a young girl, who looked about thirteen, entered the cemetery side of the park.
Immediately, Jareth forgot about his most likely kamikaze plan and, instead focused on the girl. She was a pretty little thing, with long black- brown hair, eyes that changed from grey to green.
He noticed that, even though her changing eyes were teary, strong spirit shone through her eyes. He realized that he was mostly drawn to her fiery spirit. She collapsed underneath a nearby oak tree and started to cry.
What is a child this young doing in a cemetery crying? Jareth thought, intrigued.
Jareth never noticed the strong power's hold on him slip off as soon as he spotted her until he flew off towards the oak tree she was under. He landed on a branch right above her.
After watching her for a few minutes of watching her, he felt the connection grow stronger and he felt other things he could not remember feeling. He felt like protecting her from everything that would cause her harm. He felt like making her smile, granting her every wish no matter how ridiculous or inconvenient.
An anger also rose within him. An anger he had not felt for a long, long time. An anger that made him want to kill whoever had already hurt her. An anger that made him want to right any wrong done to her.
He felt the anger soften when he saw her sit up and dry her eyes. Jareth flew down from his perch and landed right next to the girl. She didn't notice him until he uttered a soft hoot and took a step towards her. She raised her head and looked at him. She started when she saw how close he was. He cocked his head, silently asking her what was wrong.
She blinked the last traces of tears from her eyes. Curiousity shown through her eyes as well as a little bit of her earlier sadness.
"Hi," she said, her voice was still rough from crying. "I thought owls were nocturnal."
He offered the owl equivalent of a shrug, a slight resettling of his wings across his back. A sheepish look was in his obsidian eyes.
The girl sighed and folded her knees against her chest and she laid her head on her head on her bent knees, still staring at him, and wrapped her arms around her legs.
After a few minutes of silence, the girl said,"I'm Sarah."
Jareth dipped his head briefly in acknowledgement. He then sent a tendril of thought to her, not enough to overwhelm the girl, but enough to get her to answer his questions her wondering why she was talking to a bird. It worked, as usual. He looked at her questioningly.
Sarah narrowed her eyes at him and asked, "Did you just nod?"
Jareth turned his head, acting like a normal owl and made the slight tendril a tad bit stronger. Sarah shook her head, as if trying to rid herself of a memory.
"Of course you didn't." Sarah said, her tone took a an older, mocking edge, obviously quoting someone. "'Owls do not understand people. Their brains are not capable to understand human speech. It is illogical.' As my evil step- mother would say."
Jareth saw anger rise within her. He released the first tendril, but sent another one to make her tell him everything. She resisted at first, while her rage kept building. Finally, she gave in and said her rage quite evident in her voice, "Why did Dad have to marry someone so strict. Its like she has no emotions besides anger towards me. Even when I do something right she always makes me do it again. Now I know how Cinderella felt, except that my step- mother is ten times worse!"
During her rant, Jareth had sidled closer to her until he was a few inches away from her hand. At the mention of Cinderella, he stopped and made an inquisitive hoot.
Sarah started to answer,"Cinderella was a-" she stopped and looked at him sharply. "Did you ask 'Who is Cinderella?'"
Jareth just looked at her, letting her draw her own conclusions.
"I knew it!" Sarah cried. "I knew you said something."
So began their friendship.
End of Chapter 1
A/N:This was an interesting chapter to write. I apologize for some of the lameness in this chapter. I really hoped you enjoyed this. Thanks for reading. :D
