The sun was setting over the beauty that was the labyrinth, shadows being cast over the land. As the darkness crept up the castle walls the king of the goblins moved away from the window. Every day he would sit at the same window and watch over his world, guarding it. Too many times other fae had declared war on the labyrinth after word got out a mortal girl had defeated it. Jareth shuddered, though there was no breeze, and rubbed the back of his neck. You should have been kinder to her a voice in his head whispered. He knew better than to listen to the voices but tonight he was far too tired to shut them out.
"What could I have done?" Jareth spoke aloud to himself. Nothing. You don't deserve anyone like her in your miserable life. Another voice spoke up in answer to the king. Fae didn't have the same conscience as humans did; they literally had a good and bad voice fighting over every decision they made. It was up to that fae to decide whether to block the voices or not.
"She was ungrateful! I gave everything to that…that…child! And did she ever thank me?" Jareth roared to the darkness. He had never been the same since Sarah had left the labyrinth and she had left an emptiness inside the king. He was cruel to his goblins in the day, when he was not distant, and on the nights he would argue with himself. He was doing that when a wrinkled goblin poked his head around the door.
"Your majesty…" His voice was high and sounded as if he had been running; which, knowing how goblins needed to please their king, he probably had been. Jareth turned on his heels and glared at the goblin.
"What?!" He snapped. The goblin cowered against the door and covered his bald head with a hand.
"W-we found her…the girl" The goblin knew the kind would find out sooner or later that they had, in fact, found the girl four days before and the king would beat him silly. But he didn't care. The goblins of the labyrinth had been conflicted (an emotion they very rarely felt) about what to do with the information about Sarah; half wanted to inform the king in the hopes he would be kinder to them, and the other half wanted to keep the information a secret so the king would suffer. Jareth didn't quite know how to process what the repulsive thing in front of him had said. They had found her?
"Where?" Was all he could get out.
"England, your highness" The goblin seemed uncomfortable standing in the doorway and Jareth was suspicious as to why.
"What is your name?" The king never bothered to memorize every goblins name, it would take his lifetime, and he never really cared anyway. But this goblin had brought him news of his Sarah and he felt the goblin was keeping something from him.
"My n-name? Uh…" The goblin hesitated and gave a quick look behind him, making the king feel more suspicious.
"I haven't got all day and my patience is wearing thin" The king warned. The goblin jumped and nodded.
"Nox" The goblin squeaked out.
"You are hiding something from me, Nox, and I will find out what it is. You can spare yourself the pain and tell me now if you wish" The kind had leaned down and was face to face with the goblin, who was now shaking with fear. Good, the king thought, I have been waiting too long to find the girl and I will not have anyone stand in my way.
"The girl…she is different, sire" Jareth frowned.
"Different how?" If Sarah was with child he didn't know what he would do. Of course she would have moved on with her life you idiot? What? You think she would wait for you her entire life? The voice in his head was completely right and Jareth knew it, but it still hurt him.
"I cannot say…she is the same but she is different…" The goblin looked confused and that was when Jareth's patience was lost. He grabbed the thing by its tattered shirt and stood to his full height.
"You will show me where Sarah is and you will show me what is wrong with her or I will send you to the bog of stench!" The goblin started pleading with the king, who was getting angrier by the second. Jareth shook the little beast and he was silenced.
"Give me the place and I will go to her myself" The goblin was dropped and as soon as its feet hit the stone floor it was running out of the room. Jareth sighed to himself and leaned his forehead against the cold wall.
"Oh Sarah, you bring out the worst in me" His voice was just above a whisper. Sarah had left him angry but she had also broken him. For the last few years he had been searching the world for his precious mortal but she could not be found. He had feared many times that she was no longer living, and every time his heart broke again. A life without Sarah was no life he wanted to live. But Jareth was a persistent man and he had ordered a group of goblins to search through the aboveground for her. They had found her.
It had only been a few minutes when Nox came running back and handed Jareth a slip of paper, the name of a town and address sloppily written on it. The king ordered the goblin out and slammed the door shut behind him. He walked out to the window, where he had sat so many nights, and let out a long laugh. When it was over he re-read the address and grinned.
"Sarah mine…I will make things right" And with that vow he leapt from the window and reformed into his pure self, a beautiful white and brown barn owl, and flew off to the aboveground.