Hokay, here goes. My hubby and I are working on this, and are somewhat unsure of it's quality. There is a prelude I am almost down with, and we are almost finished with the next chapter. If anyone is liking this and would like to read more, please please review and tell us so? Otherwise, I'm going to have to assume no one likes it. =/
Oh, yeah- DISCLAIMER!
I owns NOTHING! Not a thing, soul, person, goblin, Goblin King, or shadow.
The Goblin King could own me if he'd like, but seeing as he's yet to collect on my numerous offers, I don't think he's interested. Drat.
Labyrinth II (Working title)
Sarah climbed up the stairs to her room. The party was over, and her friends from school had left. They were probably a bit disappointed, all things considered. It had taken every bit of manipulation she could muster to get her stepmother to even allow a party, despite being her eighteenth birthday. Once she'd agreed, however, it was clear it would be under her stepmother's terms: no loud music, no messy snack foods or pizza, everyone carefully reserved and well-behaved.
Sarah had been tempted to throw her own party elsewhere instead, but decided against it in favor of having more money on hand when she left for college in a few months. Besides, she could still have her own party, and it would be more wild than anything she could have arranged. She carefully shut the door to her room, drew the blinds on the window, and then, in a querying voice she called out, "Hoggle? Ludo?"
No response.
"Sir Didymus?" She waited. Then, more timidly, "Ambrosius?"
Still no response. She looked over at her vanity, but even her mirror was empty of their presence. Slightly hurt, she sat down in the chair. They'd never failed to come when she called before. Slowly, her eyes settled downward. There, sitting on the vanity table, placed precisely in its center, was an all-too-familiar crystalline sphere. Sarah tensed.
"No."
"Well, well. Little Sarah's all grown up." There could be no mistaking that voice. Gaze shooting upward again, she saw his mocking grin in the mirror.
Sarah whirled to face him. "I didn't call you!" But no one was there behind her.
"Indeed. I can't tell you how terribly devastated I was, when I failed to receive an invitation to your party." Sarah turned back to face the mirror and the Goblin King within it.
"Where are my friends?"
"On their way home, I presume. The party is ended, after all."
"I mean Hoggle, Sir Didymus, L-"
"Dear girl, you are an adult now, even in these so-called modern times." He rolled his eyes, then started pacing behind her, looking around at her room, just barely within arm's reach if he were actually there. "Are you still clinging to such childhood fantasies? Don't tell me you've only managed to mature..." he paused, turning his predatory gaze towards her once again, "... physically." Sarah's cheeks warmed reflexively. Angry that he could produce such a reaction in her, she flushed even more scarlet.
"If the Labyrinth is a childhood fantasy, why are you here?" she retorted.
"Must you always be so intentionally oblivious? I am hardly the fantasy of childhood." Reaching from behind her, a gloved finger traced the line of her jaw. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Leave me alone!" Again Sarah whirled, trying in vain to slap away the illusory hand. "You have no power over me!"
"Do I not? Pity." He stepped back away from her, idly examining the pommel of his riding crop.
"Why are you here?" Sarah demanded, arms folded in front of her.
"Sarah, I have always come to you bearing gifts. Now, on the day of your coming of age, you ask why I come? Is it not customary to give a present?"
"Your last 'present' to me had a worm in it. Why should I want, much less accept, anything you would offer?"
"No." His mismatched eyes turned cold. "My last gift you refused outright." As suddenly as he tensed, once again he seemed mocking and carefree. "Most ungraciously, I might add. You don't even realize what I was offering, silly girl. I could have shown you so much... but now you'll simply have to learn it all on your own."
"Learn?" Sarah was cautiously curious. She knew she could not trust him fully, but she could not remember him ever actually lying to her.
"Of course. Your pitiful excuse for an education system certainly wasn't going to prepare you for rulership."
"Rulership?" Sarah repeated again, surprised. Jareth stopped his lazy pacing and looked at her, eyes narrowed and piercing.
"You don't know?" His eyes widened again, seemingly surprised as well. Then, he burst out laughing. Sarah felt her cheeks reddening again, this time from embarrassment, as though she ought to know what he was talking about, or at least what was so funny. When he'd had his laugh, he shook his head in mock despair. "Dear girl, did you honestly speak those words without realizing? You believed so strongly in my lack of power over you. Did you think the rest of your pretty little monologue was simply theatrics?"
"What are you talking about?" Sarah tried to recover, putting what authority she could manage into her voice.
"Your kingdom, Sarah! The one you so boldly compared to my own. Or have you forgotten our little interlude so easily?" Sarah stared, dumbfounded by his words. His eyes narrowed in scrutiny again, and a note of disappointment entered his voice. "One might think the Fireys had succeeded in removing your head, considering how little you seem to use it."
"My... " Sarah couldn't form the words, disbelief overpowering her ability to speak.
"As an adult, even by your backwards society, you must accept the responsibility of your domain. In consideration for your age, I had generously granted a temporary amnesty to those who turned against me to aid you. Now that you have fully come into your role, however, I feel it only fair that you accept them into your kingdom. They will no longer be welcome in mine."
"But I don-"
"Yes, you do. And it's high time you took responsibility for it. Even I wonder at the disrepair you've allowed it to fall into. You have thirteen hours, Sarah, to find your throne and claim it, else you forfeit your domain in its entirety. Leaving your friends without a suitable home, I might add."
"Thirteen? I suppose these are the same 'thirteen' you gave me last time?" She glared, still in shock but with anger overriding her other emotions as the memory of spinning clock-hands surfaced.
"No." His voice was somber, his expression holding a tired seriousness that she had never seen on him before. "I cannot manipulate the time you have available, in either direction. That would indicate I had some amount of power over you, would it not?" He paused, letting the irony of his last statement sink in. "But that does not mean I cannot help you."
"You, help me?"
"Why Sarah, that is all I have ever done, despite your childish protestations. I make to you the same offer I left you with: Just let me rule you, and I will give you whatever you desire. Let me be your King, and I will show you the way to your domain."
"What do you get out of it?"
"Your allegiance only, if that is all you wish. A touch of gratitude would be nice, but perhaps that's stretching things too far."
"No."
"Sarah..."
"Don't 'Sarah' me, Jareth. I remember my history, and know perfectly well what rights I'd be giving up as a vassal to a king. You don't want me at all, do you? You want my kingdom. So what is it? What is it I have control over that you want so badly?"
He laughed, and his image began to fade. "If you don't know even that, then I suppose Hogbrain and the rest are going to be in an awful lot of trouble."
"His name is Hoggle!" Sarah shouted back, though she was alone in the room once again. She flopped down onto her bed, reeling, and muttered, "You're the one who's pigheaded."
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