God, guys, I am SO INCREDIBLY SORRY about the wait on this, I have absolutely no excuse. But I watched Laby earlier, so my inspiration is back, YAAAAAAY :D
Enjoy and remember to review!
Two days after Sarah's coronation ceremony, Jareth was in his study with Jac going over documents and other things that needed his attention. They were in the middle of reading through the terms of a proposed trade agreement between the Goblin and Elven Kingdoms when the door burst open suddenly to reveal Calum, a highly displeased expression on his face.
"Get out, Dove," Jareth said without even looking up. "I'm busy and don't have time for your nonsense right now, go bother someone else."
"You said we could speak privately after the ceremony, Jareth. That was two bloody days ago, this can't wait any longer. I'm not gong anywhere until you hear me out."
Jareth stared at his brother in obvious annoyance for several moments, but Calum stood fast and held his ground. Finally, the older of the two men sighed heavily.
"By the ancestors," he muttered, "I can't believe I'm letting myself be dragged into this. Jac, you are dismissed for now, we'll finish this later."
"Yes, Majesty," Jac said as he bowed. He then picked up his clipboard from where it had been sitting on Jareth's desk, turned, bowed again, this time to Calum, and left. As soon as Jac was gone, Calum shut the doors.
"Jareth," he said, "you and I need to have a serious talk."
"Enough of this, Dove, just spit it out already, will you?" Jareth demanded impatiently.
"Fine, then, I'll just get straight to the point. It has come to my attention within these last few centuries or so that you've gotten...shall we say...lax...in your authority."
"And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You've become far too...too casual. You go and wander about the kingdom dressed down, you carelessly throw people in oubliettes or bog them without a second thought, even just for minor offenses, you lounge, rather than sit, in your throne, you make idle threats that don't even get acted upon half the time...I must say, dear brother, I never imagined that you would sink to such a level as this in your reign."
"You have a problem with the way I rule the kingdom, do you?" Jareth said. He stood up and came around the desk to stand in front of his brother, pointing a finger in his face. "Let me explain a few things to you, Dove. Allow me to jog your memory in case you've forgotten about any of this. First of all, tell me, which one of us is the oldest sibling? Which one of us is the firstborn child? Is it you? Or Kaylein, perhaps? Oh, no, that's right. It's me. Isn't it? Yes, and remind me, what does that mean for inheritance of the throne? Does it mean that you took the crown? Does it mean that our sister is the queen? Ah, of course, now I recall! It means that I became king following Father's death, and that my wife is the queen, that Sarah and I—not you, and not Kay, but Sarah. And. I. Are the rulers of this kingdom. And do you know what that means, Dove? It means that we can both do whatever we bloody well want, and that includes ruling in whatever way we see fit. It means that the only people who can tell us what to do is ourselves, and that you have no control over either of us. It means that if I want to stick fifty people in an oubliette all at the same time and suspend another fifty above the Bog, I can damn well do it, and neither you, nor anybody else, has any power to stop me. And if you don't like it, then that's just too fucking bad."
"If Mother could see you now..."
"Mother is dead. It doesn't matter what she'd think."
"You're wrong, Jareth. Just because you're the king, that doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you feel like doing. Your subjects need a ruler who will do things that benefit the kingdom as a whole, not someone who just does things on a whim because he feels like it. Someone more like Father."
"I have ruled this kingdom adequately for over thirteen hundred years, Calum, and you've never complained about this before, so please, do enlighten me as to what's bringing this on all of a sudden, will you?"
"It hasn't been a problem before, but now it is! You've gotten far too relaxed, it's absurd! It's like you don't even care anymore what happens to the kingdom! Or the Labyrinth, for that matter!"
Jareth had turned to face away from Calum, but when that comment was made, he whirled back around and smacked his brother across the cheek, his mismatched eyes flashing with anger.
"Don't you ever," he said in a dangerously low voice, "ever say that I don't care what happens to the Labyrinth, Calum. Don't even imply it, do you understand me? You know perfectly well how connected I am to that thing. Saying I don't care what happens to it is like saying I don't care what happens to Sarah. I not only care, I care more than you will ever be able to comprehend."
"Well," Calum said, rubbing his cheek, "you could have fooled me with the way you've been acting."
"You may be my brother," Jareth said darkly, "but I am the one that holds the most power, and this is me as your king, not your brother, telling you that if you don't shape up and stop acting like a peccant mooncalf, I will strip you of your title and your authority, take away your duchy, and put you in an oubliette to rot and wither away, is that perfectly clear?"
"Another one of your empty threats that you don't plan to act upon," Calum remarked. "Hm. How terribly predictable of you, Jareth."
"Be quiet."
"No, I actually don't think I—"
"Dammit, Calum, will you shut your mouth for once in your life and let me focus?!" Jareth snapped.
That was when Calum noticed that his brother was starting to turn somewhat pale. His shoulders were visibly rising and falling with each breath, and he suddenly seemed overcome with exhaustion. He stumbled forward and placed his hands on the desk, leaning heavily on it as he grimaced.
"Jareth?" Calum said.
"...Something's not right," Jareth half-muttered.
"What do you mean? Everything seems fine to me."
There was a pause as Jareth clenched his eyes shut, his breathing becoming more and more labored.
"The Labyrinth," he said. "Something is wrong with the Labyrinth. Someone's been tampering with it. Someone is tampering with it."
"What? But that's not possible, you're the only one with any power over the damn thing."
"I...I need to get out there...find out what's happening. I need—"
"I don't much care what you need right now, Jareth. You can deal with whatever problems you're having on your own. I'm going back to Aldbridge. Contact me once you've come to your senses about what we discussed."
Without sparing a single backwards glance, Calum left the room, leaving the doors wide open and Jareth leaning on the desk for support. The Goblin King remained like that for another moment or so before his strength gave out and he collapsed onto the floor. He tried to get up, but he felt strangely lightheaded and his vision was swimming, and he only barely succeeded in lifting himself onto his elbows.
I am the Goblin King, he thought. I am one of the most powerful and respected leaders in the entire Underground. My very name strikes fear into the hearts of many. I have not ruled this kingdom for so many centuries only for it all to end on the damn floor so soon after my own marriage and my wife's coronation. I will not leave my precious Sarah alone, not like this, not this soon. This is not how I die. It does not end here.
As if the very thought of his wife had been enough to summon her, Sarah passed by the door as she went down the hall, but when she saw Jareth on the floor, she halted in her tracks, her eyes growing wide.
"Jareth!" she cried, rushing into the room and falling to her knees beside him. "Oh, God, Jareth...What's wrong, are you hurt? Tell me what I can do to help."
"The Labyrinth," he managed. "Something's wrong with it, precious. It's...It's being tampered with somehow. Whatever's being done is...it's draining me..."
"What do you mean, how is it draining you?"
"Draining my powers, my energy...The Labyrinth and I...we're connected...If that connection is severed, the Labyrinth will collapse, and I'll lose my powers...Dammit, I have to get out there. I have to find out what's happening, put a stop to it."
He tried to get up, but as soon as he was on his knees, the room began to spin, and he collapsed again. His eyes fluttered shut, and Sarah began to panic.
"Oh, God," she muttered. "What do I do? I can't leave him alone like this, but I have to...Help! Somebody help, please, it's an emergency! Oh...hold on, Jareth, don't give up just yet. Somebody get in here! Now, dammit, this is—"
"Sarah?" a voice said. "Is that you? What is it, what's going—"
Kaylein froze in the doorway, her eyes growing huge at the scene before her.
"By the ancestors," she breathed. She lifted her skirts and hurried over, kneeling down beside her sister-in-law. "What's happening, is he alright?"
"I don't know, I...He said that something's wrong with the Labyrinth, it's being tampered with and it's draining his powers and energy. What are we going to do?"
"I'll tell you what we're going to do, you're going to stay here and watch him while I go get help. I'll be back as quickly as I can, don't leave his side while I'm gone!"
Sarah shook her head as Kaylein stood up and went rushing out of the room to find someone who could help.
"Oh," Sarah murmured, shaking her head as she fought back tears. "Please don't give up. Stay with me, please. I can't lose you, not like this, not so soon. I wouldn't be able to bear it if you were gone. Dammit, Jareth, I need you, do you not understand that? If you're not around, then...then I'll have come to the Underground for nothing. The whole reason I came in the first place is because I love you, don't you realize that? I wanted to be with you."
She sighed heavily and looked around.
"Please hurry, Kay..."
Kaylein stood in the hallway outside Sarah and Jareth's chambers with her arms around her sister-in-law's shoulders as they both waited anxiously for news about how the Goblin King was doing. They had been there together for what felt to both women like a lifetime, and it was pure torture for Sarah not knowing if her husband was going to be okay, especially since they were still very much in the newlywed stages of their marriage and still highly caught up in each other in many ways.
Finally, the door opened, and the healer who had been examining Jareth for the past hour or so stepped out.
"Well?" Sarah asked. "How is he? Is he going to be alright?"
"He seems fine for now, though he is quite exhausted," came the reply. "I wasn't able to determine much about what's happening. The King's connection to the Labyrinth has always been somewhat beyond my comprehension. You must understand, Your Majesty, it...it's very old magic, almost to the point of being considered archaic. Only King Jareth himself fully understands all of its secrets, the rest of us are strictly forbidden from knowing all the details. But if what His Majesty said to you is true and someone really has been tampering with the Labyrinth, then..."
"Then what?" Kaylein prompted.
"Then I believe that the only way for him to fully recover is to put a stop to whatever is going on."
Sarah took a moment to absorb everything she had just been told, then gave a nod.
"Alright," she said, "thank you. I'll send for you if needed, but for now, you may go."
The healer bowed, then took his leave. After he was gone, Sarah turned to Kaylein with tears in her eyes.
"What are we going to do, Kay?" she half-whispered.
"We have to find out who's tampering and stop them," Kaylein said.
"But how are we going to do that? I'm still getting acclimated to the Underground, and...no offense, but Jareth told me you're not as magically inclined as he and Calum are."
"No, I'm not. And it may be true that you're still getting used to things, but you are the Queen, so you hold plenty of your own power, even if it's not the magical kind. Besides, we have Calum to help us."
"I don't know, I just..."
"Look, I'll go find Calum and explain the situation to him, and you go in and see Jareth since I know you're dying to, anyway. Once I find that other brother of mine, I'll bring him back here and we can work out a more solid plan of action, alright?"
Sarah hesitated for a brief moment before nodding in agreement.
Kaylein hugged her.
"It's going to be alright, Sarah," she said, "I promise. He's my brother, I care about him, too. And I'm not about to let something like this take him from us."
Sarah nodded again, and Kaylein gave her another quick hug before turning and going off in search of Calum. Once she was alone, Sarah took a moment to try and compose herself so that Jareth wouldn't put unnecessary stress on himself by worrying about her when he saw her expression. After doing that, she opened the door and went in.
Jareth was lying in bed on top of the covers with his eyes closed, still fully dressed except for his boots, one arm draped across his middle. His chest visibly rose and fell with his breathing, which seemed a bit ragged, and he looked a bit paler than usual. Sarah went and stood beside the bed, gently brushing some hair away from Jareth's face. When he felt her touch on his skin, his eyelids fluttered, then opened halfway. For a moment, his eyes wandered the room aimlessly, and he looked confused, as if he didn't recognize his surroundings. Then his gaze landed on Sarah, and a more relaxed expression washed over his face.
"Sarah," he breathed, smiling tiredly at her.
She returned the smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Exhausted, mostly," he replied.
She sat down beside him on the edge of the mattress, taking hold of his hand.
"Don't worry, Jareth," she said. "Kay and Calum and I are going to figure out what's going on and fix it so you can get better. I promise."
"I don't think Calum will be very inclined to help me at the moment, in all honesty."
"Why not?"
"We got into an argument just before I collapsed. Apparently I've gotten too relaxed in my way of ruling the kingdom, and he disapproves."
"Once he finds out what's happening, though, I'm sure he'll help. He's your brother, after all. I doubt he would let something like an argument get in the way of that."
Jareth smirked faintly.
"You don't know him like I do, precious," he said. "Besides, he said he was going back to his duchy, so it wouldn't surprise me if he's long gone by now."
"Either way, we'll figure this out," Sarah said. "I promise. I'm not going to lose you, Jareth. Not like this, and definitely not so damn soon."
"Nor do I intend to leave you in this manner. I promised you forever, precious, and that is exactly what I am going to give you. I am not about to go back on a promise to you."
Sarah gave a somewhat weak smile, grasping his hand between both of hers.
"I love you, Jareth," she said quietly.
"And I you, my precious thing," he replied.
For a few moments or so, a comfortable silence hung in the air between them, then Jareth sighed heavily.
"Dammit, I can't stay here in bed like this," he said. "I need to be up doing things, moving around, keeping myself occupied. Just because I'm a bit weakened, that doesn't make me a bloody invalid. I feel perfectly fine, I just don't have quite as much energy as I normally do."
"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to go wandering around?" Sarah asked. "I mean, what if you collapse again and there's no one nearby to help you?"
"If it will make you feel better, precious, I'll keep Jac with me just in case. He and I have some things to finish taking care of, anyway. Calum interrupted us earlier, so we never did come to a decision about that proposed trade agreement."
Sarah nodded.
"Okay," she said. "That'll work. I trust Jac."
"So do I. He's a good man, I wouldn't be able to handle half the things that need my attention without his assistance."
Having said this, Jareth pushed himself up into a sitting position. Sarah got up and stood by, ready to help him if need be, but he managed to get out of bed on his own. He grabbed his boots from where they were sitting nearby and pulled them on, then gripped one of the bedposts for support as he stood up. He swayed a bit on his feet very briefly, but was quickly able to steady himself. He went over to the window and conjured a crystal, then sent it away, watching as it floated and bobbed its way downwards before re-entering the castle through a different window. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Jareth called.
The door opened, and Jac stepped into the room and bowed.
"You sent for me, Majesty?" he said.
"Yes," Jareth replied, "thank you for coming so quickly. I assume that enough time has passed by now for gossip to have started spreading through the castle, and that as such, you must surely have heard that I am...not fully myself at the moment, would this assumption be correct?"
"I...I may have overheard the odd detail from whispering maids, Your Majesty, but I tend to not pay much attention to such things since there's never truly any way of knowing how much of it is or isn't true."
"I trust you, Jac, you must surely know that by now. More so than any of my other advisors, and certainly more than any of those pathetic, half-brained lickspittles known as goblins. Which is why I know that you won't reveal what I am about to tell you to anyone outside this room without first obtaining my explicit permission to do so. What you are about to hear, keep entirely confidential. Do not discuss it with anyone other than myself, the Queen, or my siblings, is that understood?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. You have my word."
"Good. The Labyrinth is being tampered with. By whom or for what purpose, I do not yet know, but the fact remains that it is happening. Earlier today, shortly after I first sensed it, I collapsed. Thank the ancestors Sarah passed by the room when she did, otherwise, who knows what would have become of me? My energy has been drained somewhat as a result of this...catastrophe, and Sarah is concerned that I may collapse again at some point and that no one will be around to help when it happens. It is because of this, along with the fact that you and I still have things to take care of, that you are to remain with me at all times unless I tell you otherwise. That way, Sarah won't have to worry about me, and on the chance that it does happen again, someone will know to go and fetch help. Can you do that, Jac?"
"It will be a privilege, Majesty."
"Excellent. Now, if you will excuse us for a bit, I'd like some time alone with my wife."
"Yes, of course, Your Majesty."
Jac bowed, then turned and left.
Jareth turned to Sarah and took her in his arms, holding her close.
"I'll be alright, precious," he murmured. "Everything will be fine. I promise."
"I hope you're right," she replied.
It wasn't that she didn't trust him. It was just...what if he was wrong? What if things wouldn't be fine? She couldn't lose him. Not so soon.
Something had to be done, and fast.