In which JJ discovers what an Oubliette is, and Jareth is a shameless flirt.
Once again, I do not own Labyrinth.
The Oubliette
An hour later, she hadn't made much progress. She'd found a sturdy stick to use as a makeshift cane, but at the rate she was hobbling, she could see no way to escape the labyrinth in time.
Hell, she thought grimly, I don't even know if I'm going the right way…
Fortunately though, she so far had managed to avoid the unpleasantries that Jareth had mentioned, and she could only hope that her luck in that aspect would hold up.
The stone walls of the labyrinth blocked any glimpse of the surrounding maze, and briefly she considered scaling them to get a view, but decided against it.
That's probably cheating, she mused, Which would be as good an excuse as any for His Royal Glittery-ness to keep me here.
Her toe caught a gap in the flagstones and she stumbled, putting weight on her injured ankle, which caused her to swear, loudly.
"If I ever get my hands on that kid again--"
An amused voice interrupted her, "You know, talking to yourself is the first sign that you've lost your mind."
JJ turned and found Nobbiggo perched on top of an arch that she'd just passed under.
When he smirked and waved, JJ glared at him, "I suppose you know that from personal experience?"
"Of course not," he jumped down from the arch, landed on all fours, and then stood upright, "Being a goblin, I never had one to begin with."
JJ chuckled in spite of herself, "Back in my world, seeing goblins and talking to them is the second sign that you've lost it."
"Well, there you have it!" the goblin folded his arms and leaned casually against a wall, "I have to admit, for a crazy person, you're making better progress than I would've thought."
JJ snorted, "You're kidding me, right? I'm terrible at this sort of thing. Thanks for the encouragement though."
She turned and continued, grimacing as her ankle twinged. A warm, furry paw curled around her fingers, and she looked down to find Nobbiggo walking beside her.
At her questioning look, he shrugged, "I can't show you the way through, it's against the rules. I can, however, keep you company, and make sure you don't get hurt."
JJ smiled, "Thanks, Nobbiggo."
After a few more hours, the sandstone walls gave way to a garden maze, and JJ was thoroughly impressed, "This place is gorgeous," she said, quietly.
Nobbiggo agreed, "His majesty spends much of his free time here in the gardens."
"I can see why."
Something glinting in the sunlight caught her eye, and she turned down the path towards it. Suddenly, the ground shifted beneath her, and Nobbiggo shouted a warning, but it was too late: She yelled as she fell into a dark pit, grasping for the sides of the shaft, but her drop was halted abruptly by what felt like a dozen or so pairs of hands… hands that looked like they were covered with some sort of green moss.
A disembodied voice rasped, "Well well, what have we here?"
Three of the hands formed a face, "Looks like we got a live one!"
Another face looked like it was grinning, "What do you think, gents? Send her back up, or down?"
One hand slipped under JJ's shirt and she slapped it away with a growl, "I don't think so, buddy. And send me up if you please, I'm on a time crunch."
"What'd she say?" one set of hands asked, it's fingers forming a face scrunched with confusion.
"Did she say up?" Another said.
"Nah," the first one answered, "I think she said down!"
"No!" JJ growled, "I said up!"
"Too late now!"
The hands dropped her.
She hit a rough gravel floor, her leg twisting beneath her painfully, and she could hear the hands laughing. When she looked up through the shaft, the hands had disappeared, and she could see Nobbiggo looking down at her worriedly.
"Are you alright?" he called down.
JJ glanced down at her leg, and found that her plastic ankle brace was cracked cleanly open. The knee of her jeans was torn, the skin was bloodied from the gravel, and she could tell from the stinging in both her elbows that those joints had suffered the same damage, but other than that, she was not seriously injured.
"I'm ok, Nobb," she said, slowly pushing herself to her feet, "A little busted up, but I'll make it. What is this?"
Nobbiggo sounded concerned, "You're in an oubliette… there's no way out except the hole."
JJ glanced around the chamber and quickly realized he was right.
"Don't suppose you can help me out, can you?" she asked.
The goblin thought for a moment, and answered, "Maybe. Hang on a tick, I'll be right back."
When he disappeared, she sat down with a sigh, and yanked the remains of her brace off.
"Stupid shiny thing," she muttered, "I can't believe I fell for that."
The Goblin King's smooth voice replied, "I can."
JJ turned and found him leaning casually against the wall, his arms folded over his chest, smirking. Although it had only been a few hours since she'd last seen him, his outfit had completely changed. He now wore a black leather vest, a white poet's shirt that was left with the top buttons undone, and black leather boots that went past his knees. And grey pants that left very little to the imagination. When she realized exactly how tight they were, she blushed, which made the Goblin King laugh.
JJ glared at him, "Well, I'm glad this amuses you."
He chuckled and knelt beside her, and when she started to scoot back, he took her arm and scolded, "Be still, I'm not going to bite. Well," he grinned, "Not at the moment."
He took off his gloves and ran his hands down her arm, and immediately the stinging in her elbow subsided.
The Goblin King then leaned over her and did the same to her other arm, and also to her leg, stopping only when he got to her ankle.
"This injury is quite serious. You should have told me earlier."
JJ shrugged, "It didn't occur to me."
He rolled his eyes and pressed his fingers against the swollen joint, his brow furrowing in concentration.
Unlike when he healed the abrasions, the sensation in her ankle was quite painful, and JJ had to bite her lip to keep from swearing.
Again, the Goblin King seemed all too aware of her thoughts, "Swear all you like, I imagine this hurts like hell."
"What, you've never sprained your ankle?" JJ growled through clenched teeth.
He raised an eyebrow at her, "I've never let an injury go this long without proper treatment."
"It was fine until you whisked me off to this place," the redhead huffed, glaring at him.
"You're the one who insisted on running the Labyrinth," he retorted, "And if you're having second thoughts, you are more than welcome to forfeit your remaining time and--"
"Fat chance," JJ pushed away from him and got to her feet. Her ankle twinged, but not nearly as badly as before.
Jareth stood as well, putting his gloves back on, "It'll still hurt, but as long as it doesn't suffer any more abuse, it should heal up well enough."
"Thanks," JJ said. After a pause, she asked, "Why are you helping me?"
The Goblin King rolled his hand in a classic sleight of hand fashion, and a crystal sphere appeared, balanced on his fingertips. With an ease borne out of years of practice, he began manipulating the crystal over his hand, something that JJ recognized as contact juggling, though she'd never seen anyone do it as gracefully as he did.
The fluid motion was hypnotic, and JJ had to forcefully tear her gaze from it.
Aware of the effect that the crystal juggling had, the Goblin King grinned wickedly, "July, you'll find that I can be quite generous, when it suits me."
He stopped manipulating the crystal and took slow steps forward, until he was only a few inches away from JJ, who backed away instinctively.
The crystal caught the human's attention again, and when she looked at it, she saw her reflection deep within the sphere.
"What is that?" she questioned.
Resuming the juggling, Jareth shrugged, "It's a crystal. Nothing more. However, if you turn it this way, and look into it," he paused the crystal's movement once more, "It'll show you your dreams."
His grin took on a predatory quality, as he stepped even closer, and JJ backed up until she was against the wall.
The Goblin King held the crystal out to her, "Do you want it?"
She did. She couldn't explain why, but she felt compelled to accept the crystal, and she started to reach for it, but hesitated, "What's the catch?"
He chuckled, "You assume there is one."
"That's not a denial."
With a sigh, he began juggling the crystal once more, "The catch, as you put it, is that you willingly forfeit your remaining time and accept the fact that you must live the rest of your life here."
JJ scowled and shoved both hands into her pockets, "And all it does is show me my dreams?"
He raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that enough?"
"Not really," she answered, "I already know what my dreams are, I don't need a crystal ball to show them to me."
The Goblin King leaned against the wall, close enough for JJ to see the pattern of the crescent-shaped medallion that rested against his pale, muscular chest.
JJ took a steadying breath, which only served to make her aware that the Goblin King smelled like peaches, and some sort of spice.
The Goblin King lowered his voice to a silky murmur, "What if I told you that I could make your dreams come true?"
JJ swallowed nervously, "I'd say you need to work on your pickup lines."
He smirked, and leaned even closer, until his face was only an inch or so from hers, "You'll never escape the Labyrinth, July."
"I've still got ten hours," she answered, meeting his mismatched gaze with feigned confidence, trying to ignore the fact that he was close enough to, well, do anything he wanted, really.
He smirked, "Ten hours isn't long at all, Precious," he whispered, "Just think about it."
He brushed his lips against hers, and then, before it even registered that he had actually kissed her, he was gone.
A moment later, a rope fell through the opening, and JJ went over to it and looked up to see Nobbiggo leaning over the hole.
"I thought he'd never leave," he called down, shaking his head and grinning, "Climb up then, let's get you out of that nasty oubliette!"
JJ grabbed a hold of the rope and tugged on it experimentally. When it held, she began to pull herself up, and after a moment, she was out of the oubliette.
She knelt and hugged Nobbiggo and the Goblin shrugged her off with a grin, "I had help," he said, motioning over his shoulder.
A dwarf stood beside the rope which was tied to the base of a statue. He huffed grumpily, "I don't need no huggin' or anything of that sort," he grumbled.
JJ smirked, "Well, thanks anyways," she answered, "I'm JJ, by the way."
"I know who ye are. I'm Hoggle."
"Hoggle's one of the keepers of the Labyrinth," Nobbiggo explained, "He takes care of the gardens, keeps the pixies at bay. He and Jareth don't exactly see eye to eye, I thought you could use his help."
"I can't show you the way through," Hoggle added, "But I can steer you out of trouble, with Nobb's help."
JJ nodded, "I really appreciate it, thanks."
Nobbiggo took her hand, and Hoggle trundled along beside her, muttering under his breath about 'silly girls' and that 'damned rat called Jareth'.
"Speaking of the devil," Nobbiggo said, "What did his Nibs have to say to you, JJ?"
JJ found herself blushing, "Oh just that I'll never escape. Probably something he has well practiced. Nothing too surprising."
Nobbiggo smirked at her, "Really? Nothing surprising, eh?"
Irritated by the smirk, JJ affirmed, "Nothing at all."
The goblin grinned wickedly, "Well. You've got glitter on your face. Just so you know."
To reiterate, I am not going to make this a JarethXOC story. I just figure Jareth is a shameless flirt. Please review!