this idea was given to me by Code Green, since there really ARE escaped convicts running around in my area and my boss really IS making me get people to come out and help me feed her horses so i won't do it by myself. Code Green told me that there was a certain goblin king watching out for me, and well...

The Farm Incident

Okay, so it had been stupid to come to work today. There were two escaped convicts on the loose.

So I should have called my boss when I found out that no one could come help me feed horses.

So I should have told her that I couldn't do it by myself, being a teenage girl.

So she should have waited to feed the horses until she was home with her husband.

But, no I thought. Those two escaped convicts wouldn't stick around the city long.

Maybe I should listen to my gut more often.

I stood facing the two men, trying not to shake with fear. They both towered over me, leering, slightly sleepily. I remembered seeing their faces on TV. Both of them brutal killers, one of whom had escaped prison before. And I had startled them awake by banging into the feed room like I always did, ready to do my work.

They had jumped up immediately, only looking around briefly to see the cause of the door slamming open. I think they must have seen my feet as I headed in the opposite direction, or heard me, but both of them were soon after me.

And their legs were longer than mine.

Belatedly, I realized the car would be a bad idea to escape to. They were too hot on my heels; once I had gotten the door open they could follow me right in, and that would not have been good. However, I was tempted to try it because both my keys and my cell phone were sitting in the driver's seat. Besides, they might try to take my keys and drive off in my car, with my phone. That wouldn't have been good either.

Being a good American, I chose to save the technology rather than myself, and headed towards the car.

I threw open the door and grabbed the keys and phone, just in time to turn and see a large body barrel into mine, knocking me back into the car. My hip landed painfully on the parking brake, and I whimpered slightly. However, the man on top of me was slightly dazed, giving me enough time to whip out the small and rather puny pocket knife I kept in my pants to cut hay bale twine with. Still, it was a weapon.

The convict who was not on top of me dragged his accomplice away from me, wanting his own piece of me. Realizing that this was my only chance, I sprang forward and pointed the sharp end of my knife at them.

Bad idea.

Before I could blink, the larger of the two (the one who had escaped prison before) knocked the puny pointy object out of my grasp, flinging it away towards the long grass in the yard. I tried to scramble into my car, but I was pulled out of it by the scruff of my neck, and dropped to the ground. I heard my flimsy t-shirt rip.

The horses were whinnying nervously around me, but they were held back by their own prey instinct and the electric fence.

I didn't blame them.

I was about to become prey.

"Get up," one of the men growled at me. It wasn't a choice. Roughly, he grabbed the back of my shirt in his huge hand and turned me around, slamming me against the side of the car. Without warning, he ripped the rest of my t-shirt off of me, leaving me in just my bra. He pressed his meaty body against mine as he forcefully took my car keys and my cell phone from me, and threw them back into the driver's seat where I had left them. Too late to call 9-1-1.

"All right girlie, I'll make you a deal," the man sneered in my face.

I had to try very hard to resist choking. His breath was terrible.

"Or how about you make a deal with me?"

This was a new, male voice, though it sounded awfully familiar. The man on top of me shoved himself away. Another person could mean another cell phone. Or the police.

But the new voice didn't belong to a person the convicts would have recognized. Both of them, and me, gaped at the newcomer. He was blonde, and his hair was long and stood up in all directions. He wore a black suit of formidable-looking armor, with a black cape flowing about him. His eyes, which were boiling with restrained fury only a goblin king was capable of possessing, were mismatched. One was blue, while the other was brown.

"Jareth!" I cried, only to be shoved back against the car.

The convict who had not been on top of me now held my knife against my throat. "Don't you move, mister, nor call the police," he growled. "I'll slit her clean open, so help me!"

Jareth threw back his head and laughed. "You think I need the police to take care of scum like you?" he asked.

The sky darkened. Black, angry, thunderheads rolled in from seemingly nowhere, blotting out the sun. The horses panicked and galloped about their pastures, trying to find a way to escape the sudden storm.

Startled, the big man pressed my knife harder against my throat. I tried very hard not to breathe, though I could feel my heart pounding against the blade.

"Now, what about that deal?" Jareth's mouth moved, but his voice came from everywhere.

"C'mon, let's go!" the convict who did not hold me said nervously. "Just leave her, she's not worth it!"

"She'll tell, unless I modify her memory," the big one said. Staring hard at Jareth, he took the knife from his partner and dug the point into my skin. I screamed from the pain, though I didn't think he would kill me just yet. His big hand slid to my bare stomach, and he grabbed for the fastener of my jeans.

"Jareth!" I screamed, closing my eyes.

Abruptly, I dropped to the ground, curling into a ball instinctively as I heard the screams begin. There is nothing more bone-chilling than to hear two grown men screaming for their lives as they are burned to cinders, struck by lightning.

Whimpering, I curled tighter into my ball, trying to slide under my car until it was over.

Suddenly, there was silence.

I stayed in my position, curled into a ball, half under my car. I was sure that whatever Jareth had done had backfired, and now the two convicts were going to come back to me. It was too quiet.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt the fabric land on me. I grabbed the cloth and held it to myself. It was Jareth's black cloak.

"Ichobana?" I heard his voice ask, from quite close by. "Icho? Are you alright?"

A hand rested on my shoulder, and I cringed away from it. He pulled back.

I lay there, whimpering, for who knows how long. Long enough for the sky to lighten with the dissipation of Jareth's storm, long enough for the horses to calm down.

"I'm right here, Icho," Jareth whispered soothingly. He didn't try to touch me.

Realizing that it would probably be a good idea to get off the ground, I slowly uncurled myself and stood up shakily. Turning away from Jareth, I re-fastened my jeans and pulled his cloak tighter around myself.

"Are the horses okay?" I asked shakily.

"Yes. They're all fine."

"Can you call my boss and tell her that I'm not going to be able to feed?"

"Yes." The next thing I knew, I was hearing my voice speaking into my cell phone, although I knew Jareth was forming the words.

As he spoke, I could feel his worried eyes on me. He was probably wondering if my brain was messed up or something.

Of course, I wasn't so sure I was all there myself.

When my boss had confirmed that she would feed her horses later that night with her husband, the goblin king hung up the phone and placed it gently on the driver's seat. I could tell he was waiting for me to crack like a nut.

"Did you…kill them?" I asked faintly. Briefly, I wondered if it was a bad thing that I was shaking so terribly.

Jareth hesitated before answering. "Yes…I did."

I groaned and threw up. He held my hair as I emptied myself. When my body was finally too weak, from the adrenaline, from the beating it had endured, from purging itself, I turned and threw myself into the goblin king's arms. I was sure that the crack in my mind was audible to Jareth as the tears started to flow. Luckily, his armor had disappeared, so I was crying into the softness of a black poet shirt. As I sobbed, two strong arms came around me, and a chin rested on my head.

"Shh," my goblin king whispered. "It's over now."

I felt his hand stroke my hair and I sobbed even harder. I barely noticed when the smell of the air changed, signifying that we were now in the Labyrinth itself. I did notice, however, when Jareth moved me to sit down on a bed. I stiffened, but he didn't let me out of his grasp.

"I thought you might need some time to recover before you return home," he murmured in my ear. "When you return, it will be as if you had never left the farm. The police will find the remains of those criminals and think they were struck by lightning, and you were extremely resourceful and dove under your car, saving your own life. You will be regarded as a lucky sort of hero."

I laughed through my tears, sniffing as I pulled myself closer to him. He cradled me in his arms as if I were a child.

"Oh, Icho," he said, "I will never let anyone hurt you. Remember that."

When my sobs had subsided, I pulled back to face him. He studied my face for a moment before setting me down in the bed.

"I think you need sleep before you return."

"My eyes are swollen that much, huh?" I asked, smiling wryly.

"A gentleman would never point such things out." As he said this, he was grinning.

"Right, because subtlety is your middle name."

The goblin king laughed out loud before he kissed my forehead. "I'll leave you."

"Wait!" I caught his arm as he stood. For some reason, my heart had started to pound frantically when he had gotten up to leave.

I guess he saw my feelings in my eyes, because his softened and he sat back down. "Icho," he said, "Are you ready for me to become more than your older brother figure?"

I looked down. "I just…don't want to be alone."

"You of all people should know that you, Ichobana, will never be alone. I will always be at your side to protect you."

I looked into his eyes. His mismatched orbs bore into mine.

Then I yawned, ruining the moment.

Sighing, Jareth smiled and helped me to slide under the covers. When I was securely tucked in, he laid on top the blankets and wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.

"Sleep, Ichobana."