Again, I don't own Labyrinth or any of the characters, all of that good stuff belongs to Jim Henson and the other creators! Big thanks for anyone who has read so far, please review and let me know what you think if you get a chance. I haven't written literally anything fiction in about 6 years so feedback is greatlyyy appreciated. I have an overarching plan for this one (kinda) so it's all meant to foreshadow and whatnot. However, if you feel it's dragging at all let me know so I can hurry it along a bit.
Sarah came to a skidding halt outside the coffee shop where she was supposed to meet her manager twenty-two minutes earlier. Shoving the door open, she made eye contact with a stern but young looking woman, and pulled the most apologetic face she could before slinking over.
"Sorry Jessica, when I left I was on time, I don't know what happened!" Sarah gushed, dripping rain water all over the floor of the cafe. Jessica handed her a tissue, pointing at Sarah's eyes. Her mascara had run everywhere. With a sigh, Sarah dabbed delicately at her face, attempting to wipe as much of the black gunk off as possible. That was the last time she bothered to put on makeup for anything other than a special event, or rather, any event that boasted free food and drink.
"I'm used to it Sarah, I set off ten minutes late to kill the waiting time. Sit?" Sarah sat gratefully, shoving the sodden tissue into the back pocket of her jeans. What would she do without her manager? She gave Quiet a gentle nudge with her foot after noticing it sticking its tongue out at the woman. Jessica had already ordered their drinks; she sipped at a double shot espresso, and Sarah wrapped her shivering hands around a massive hot chocolate, with extra marshmallows. "I know I tell you this every time, but that's a child's drink." Sarah's only acknowledgement was a satisfied mm sound as she took a big glug of the warm brown liquid, not noticing the froth that had flicked onto her upper lip.
"So what did you want to talk about? Did you get the plan I sent over?"
"I don't think planning an entire new book is a great idea when your last two chapters are late. Have you even started on them yet?" Sarah frowned guiltily, poking a marshmallow below the surface.
"I tried. I told you before though, I don't want to write about a King of the Goblins. It's just not the direction I wanted to take the story in. The focus was meant to be on the creatures living in the world, not a monarchy."
"This is the fourth book, Sarah. There's only so much you can write about dwarves and fairies before you need an actual overarching plot." Jessica tried. This was beginning to get old. There was a call for a deeper understanding of the world Sarah had created.. Although well written and overflowing with imagination, Sarah's stories were just that - stories. They had barely any plot to boast of, and although they were popular for a time for reading to children before bed, the older fan base were getting bored. Quickly. Sarah scowled, all humour quickly vanishing from her face. Quiet noticed her sudden change in demeanor and shrunk behind her leg.
"Well, it's my story. I don't want to write about him and that's that."
"Him? So you've already designed a character?"
"No. That is, not exactly. I've already decided, okay? I'm not writing about a stupid Goblin King!" Sarah snapped, chugging the rest of her drink and standing, almost knocking Quiet over. "I'll finish the chapters, but he won't be in them!" Jessica sighed as she watched Sarah storm out of the cafe, wondering if she had given even a second thought about the pouring rain she was walking back out into.
"Stupid Jessica. Stupid Goblin King." Sarah grumbled, paying no mind to the cool water streaming down her face as she stomped back to her block of flats. She glared down at Quiet. "I bet you loved that."
"Lady Sarah doesn't like King?" Quiet squeaked.
"Of course not!" Sarah exclaimed. "He's arrogant and rude, not to mention a dirty cheat. Do you not remember how he treated me when I ran the Labyrinth?" Quiet cocked its head to one side.
"King doesn't like to lose," it admitted. "But King likes Lady's books. King wonders why King isn't in them."
"The Goblin King reads my books?" Sarah paused her assault on the pavement. Quiet beamed up at her, thrilled to have momentarily calmed her down. "I thought he hated me?"
"King doesn't like to lose." Quiet repeated simply, as means of explanation.
"I suppose it doesn't make a difference how he feels about me or my stories anyway. The fact of the matter is, I don't like him. He kidnapped my brother, after all! So he won't be in my books, whether he reads them or not is no concern to me." Sarah decided, and continued onwards down the road, albeit less aggressively than before. Quiet giggled at its Lady's stubbornness, and wondered to itself whether Jareth had heard Sarah say his title for the first time in nearly ten years.
***
"Did you hear that?" Jareth exclaimed, jumping to a stand and grinning down upon the goblins in his throne room. "The girl is talking about me!" The goblins tittered in response but soon went back to placing bets on the chicken race that was to be taking place later that day. With a huff, the Goblin King slumped back down into his throne and kicked his legs over one of the armrests. Despite the girl saying his title aloud, it didn't hold the same power as her calling his given name; Jareth could still feel the binding of the right words forbidding him to go to her, or even speak with her.
Lazily he conjured a crystal and ordered it to show him 'the girl'. His magic knew what he meant. She was soaking wet - Jareth made a mental note to bring this up with Arglia later, wasn't she meant to have retrieved the jacket? That annoyingly loud goblin was with her too, twitching after her as she stalked down the street. He hummed to himself, it seemed as though the girl had spoken his title out of anger or annoyance rather than anything else. Despite the right words being so fickle, Jareth still felt hopeful with the way things were playing out. Obviously it had taken nearly ten Aboveground years for the mortal to even speak his title, but it was definitely a step forward. It couldn't be long until she called his given name, or rather, begged to see him! He laughed to himself, a few nearby goblins glanced up worriedly but chose to ignore their King's strange behaviour. He could be dangerous when he was in one of his moods.
It wouldn't hurt to try and speed things up a bit, though. He had once told the girl that forever was not long at all, but whilst this was true, why wait forever when you can get things done and over with? Jareth could be patient, but he didn't like to be. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before snatching his riding crop out of thin air and smacking a nearby goblin with it to get its attention.
"You, I have a few errands I need running so see to it they get done before the girl gets home." The goblin looked panicked and began to protest; the girl was nearly there already! But one quick look at the Goblin King's face and slowly raising eyebrows quickly changed the poor things mind, and it clamped its lips shut. Jareth smirked and began to drawl orders, deliberately taking his time to make the creature sweat.
"Well?" he prompted when he'd finished. The goblins looked at each other before forcing shrieks of laughter. Jareth rolled his eyes at their insincerity, and thought about how nice it would be to have some intelligent companionship.
***
Sarah slammed back into her flat with excessive force considering she wasn't as upset as she was half an hour ago. Quiet's revelation of the Goblin King being a big ol' nerd and reading her children's books had actually prised a few giggles from her once she had calmed down a little. She was starving though, her late alarm had caused her to miss breakfast. She went to check the fridge for something to eat, only to be greeted by an uncomfortable looking Arglia, holding something she could have made great use of earlier.
"My jacket!" she laughed. "Thanks, Arglia. Do you guys want something to eat too?" She glanced over her shoulder at Quiet, who had snatched her keys once they had gotten back and was admiring the way the light reflected off of them. Quiet ignored her and Arglia muttered something unintelligible in response, so Sarah shrugged and peered into the fridge. "Empty," she announced, deflated. Was she ever going to get the hang of the whole adult thing?
Turning around and leaning against the fridge, she noticed something behind Arglia, that the small goblin may or may not have been trying to conceal to the best of its ability.
"What's that behind you?" she wondered, walking over and trying to get a better view. It was an expensive looking fruit bowl, made out of a kind of metal that Sarah couldn't recognise with intricate carvings. Where the light caught it there appeared to be glitter, but if she got too close of tried to see the individual specks they would stop shining, like if you looked directly at a star in the night sky. The bowl was almost overflowing with peaches. "Did you get this for me?" Sarah gasped, smiling at the goblin who had done its best to protect the Lady. Arglia grumbled, wanted to speak out but she was under direct orders to not give away the origins of the fruit, or the implications. "You know, I swore never to eat a peach again after what happened, but it's only a piece of fruit. What harm could it be?"
With that, Sarah plucked one of the peaches from the bowl and took a large bite. Time seemed to slow down as she swallowed the sweet flesh. She grimaced but tried to take another bite, but before she could even raise the fruit to her lips, the world shifted and she lost balance, almost falling to the floor.
"Arglia?"
"Oh, what should Arglia do!?" the goblin cried, attempting to pull Sarah to the sofa where she could lie down.
"Everything's dancing," Sarah sighed; she had a vague feeling that she should be scared or at least concerned, but she only felt relaxed, maybe a little tired. Something soft hit the back of her knees and she collapsed backwards onto the sofa just as her eyes fluttered shut.