Author's Note: I was too excited to wait before I uploaded this. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter :)
Chapter Two
Revelations
When Sarah opened her eyes, she knew where she was immediately. The squawk of a nearby chicken only confirmed it. She slowly pulled herself away from Jareth and took in her surroundings.
She was most certainly in the Labyrinth; the throne room to be exact. The thirteen hour clock gleamed magnificently on the wall, the remaining chickens clucked and made frantic attempts to escape the cackling goblins. The only difference was Jareth's throne itself. She had remembered it differently and the last time she had been here, she knew there definitely hadn't been two.
"Jareth…" She paused not knowing what to say, her head spinning.
"Yes, Sarah?" he asked softly, a smile toying at the corner of his mouth.
"I… I think I'm going to fall." And with that she fainted.
Jareth caught her before she hit the ground and swept her into his strong arms. Her head slumped against his chest; her arms and legs hung over his own arms. He smiled down on her.
He swept from the room, leaving a few goblins dumbstruck. They soon got over the shock of seeing their king and THAT mortal girl and went back to their own fun and games, which included making a chicken attempt to tightrope walk.
Jareth walked for a while, up winding staircases, through paintings, until he came to a tower. He gently kicked open the door with his foot. He crossed the room with ease and carefully laid her down on the white silk sheets of his bed. She would cause an uproar about being in his bedchambers when she woke but he didn't care. She was back and that was good enough for him.
He sat down beside her and let his eyes take in all the details of her body. The crystals had shown him Sarah's beauty but that wasn't justice. She had grown up now, that much he was sure of.
His mis-matched eyes fell upon her clothing and he pulled a disgruntled face. How he disliked the mortal fashions (even if Sarah did look stunning in it)!
The tight green halter-neck shirt did wonders for her complexion and brought out her eyes, never mind the enhancements on a certain other place (not that he was looking THERE mind you). The small dark ruffled skirt made her look even taller, and Jareth knew he would always be the taller of the two. Her tights were torn from her previous fall, but why Sarah wanted to hide her legs anyway, was a mystery to him. Her white high heels were now scuffed and dirty and he slowly eased them from her feet.
His eyes scanned quickly over her hands. No rings, no jewellry, no nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief. He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently.
"Sarah Williams," he whispered. "Welcome home".
It wasn't long before she resumed consciousness. Her eyes fell upon a pair of sparkling mis-matched jewels and she smiled. She slowly eased herself into a sitting position on the bed.
"Hi," she said, giving him a small grin.
"Hi yourself. Not exactly the way I would have wanted you to return but… It can't be helped." He sighed.
Sarah swung her legs carefully over the side of the bed, so she was sitting next to him.
"Jareth, I…"
She reached out and touched the side of his face and was instantly hit with the memories of what had happened that night.
Waiting outside the club with Madison. Dominic arriving. Getting inside. Noticing some guy. Getting a drink. Talking to the guy. Him freaking her out to the max. Jareth appearing. Somehow getting outside. The two men speaking. Her in pain. Her captor abusing her. Her captor falling in pain. Her stumbling free and into Jareth's arms. A fireball. A wish. Returning to the Underground. Darkness.
She pulled her hand away from his cheek.
"I know that wasn't easy to relive again but you had to do it," Jareth told her. "There wasn't really another way."
"I guess so. Who was he, anyway? Your brother?" she asked, massaging her fingertips, where the memories had flooded.
"Yes," Jareth spat bitterly. "My older brother. Tristan. And he's the most foul, evil little bastard known to humanity!"
Jareth never swore but when it came to his brother, he made an exception.
"Older brother? But… why doesn't he rule the kingdom?" Sarah was confused already.
"The Goblin King is named on the predecessor's deathbed, never before, never after. While my father lay dying, the Courts pressured him into naming an heir. He chose me," Jareth explained silently.
"Why you? Why not Tristan?"
"Because even though Tristan is the elder, he had been dabbling in black magic, since my birth. He was becoming evil and eventually, when I was named heir, the evil finally consumed him, turning him the way he is today. And I'm sorry you had to meet him."
"Black magic?" Sarah asked.
"Black magic is bad. It's the type of magic that was prohibited in the Underground before you were even born. No one wanted any harm to come to the kingdom, or anyone in it. The Goblin King must only use white magic," he replied.
"That's good magic then, I'm guessing," Sarah smiled.
"Yes. I'm sorry I had not been there sooner. If I had been there, he wouldn't even dare go near you. I've failed you," Jareth said, hanging his head slightly.
"Don't be sorry. You could never fail me, even if you tried," Sarah told him, rising from the bed and stretching. Her bones ached and she just wanted to soak in a long, hot bath, surrounded by bubbles.
"There's a bath chamber in the adjacent room should you want to bathe," he added, raising his head, making Sarah believe he was quite capable of mind-reading.
"How did you… Oh, never mind! How did Tristan know who I was?" Sarah asked, running a hand through her tangled mass of hair.
"Everyone knew who had defeated me five years ago, since you were the only one to beat my Labyrinth." He chuckled softly.
"How did he know about my life though? That was just too creepy!" Sarah shuddered at the mere memory of it.
"He knew that after my defeat I would become weak. So he sought out the source of my weakness. I'm only guessing that he used his own crystals to look into your past and discover what he could. Hoping he would find something in you, to use against me".
"Crystals?"
"Like my own that I once offered you when you first arrived here."
"He also said that… that you… that you loved me?" she said warily.
"He may be stupid but that little fact, he was right about. And he's not right about most things."
He grinned and then seeing Sarah's pale face, he rose from the bed and knelt before her.
"Sarah, I would have had to tell you sooner or later. And I guess since you've met my extended family-" he groaned- "now would be the best time, even if it is a bit of a revelation to you."
He stared straight into her eyes and she blushed.
"Ever since you were but a babe in your mother's arms, I've watched over you. I knew you were special, even before your birth, and as you grew up I began to fall in love with you. I could not help you at all in your day to day life and for that I'm sorry. But I knew that when the time came to tell you of who and what I am… my feelings… you would have not believed me at all. So…" he paused for breath.
"So?" Sarah pushed.
"I wrote the book for you. I planted it in your mother's favourite shop and she took the bait, as I expected. As you read it, you began to believe in the world, in the inhabitants… in me. I knew it would only be a matter of time, before you came to my Labyrinth. However, I didn't expect you to call on me at fifteen. I could not tell you of my feelings, it wouldn't be suitable. What would you have thought of me? So I created the ball where we could be together, where I could express myself to you and have you truly believe me. That backfired a little though. You were too young to understand and thought of it only as a distraction. I would never have turned Toby into a goblin. Believe me," he added when he saw Sarah's mouth open to protest.
"When you bested me, I felt ashamed that I had let you leave, without telling you of my feelings. I began to regret the day I wrote the damn book. But you still believed in me after all that had happened. And I knew that once you had entered the Underground and my Labyrinth, it would be inevitable you would someday return…"
He breathed out as he finished his declaration.
Sarah had taken it all in, considerably well. To think that he had watched her grow up, written her the story, created the most beautiful moment for them both, been destroyed by her and he still cared for her, after all this time.
After the shocks of the evening, she was ready to tell him her own feelings. She crouched down and carefully knelt in front of him, taking his gloved hands in her own.
"Jareth… I don't care what you've done in the past. The book became my escape from my life when it became unbearable. I wanted to live in the Labyrinth so much. I don't care that you planted it on purpose. At the beginning when you brought me here, I thought you were just a typical villain. An evil man hell bent on making my life a misery. But when I ate the peach and you took me to the ball, I realised I was looking for something. Love. All the matters is now. Yes, I continued to believe in this place. I had fallen for it the moment I read the book and I still love it here. I called on my friends whenever I needed them. But when I saw you tonight, I knew something, something I never thought I could feel and… I love you Jareth".
His eyes grew wide and he put his head closer to hers, so that their foreheads touched.
"I love you too," he whispered.
He stood tall and he pulled her from the floor. As she rose, he placed a hand on her waist and gently brought her to him, kissing her for the first time. His lips were soft and she could feel the love he felt for her.
It was like nothing she had ever felt in her entire life. Yes, Carl had kissed her many a time but it was never like this. With Jareth it was just right.
He began to deepen the kiss and she responded as he had expected. His fingers began to bury in her hair and hers held onto his sweet, angelic face.
When they broke apart, they simply smiled at each other.
"I've been waiting forever for that. Stay with me, Sarah," Jareth pleaded. "Please".
"Forever, my darling," she whispered.
She claimed his lips in another searing, passionate kiss and he didn't hesitate to respond, eagerly.
Neither of them noticed the small black crystal, floating outside the window.
"Fuck!" Tristan shouted, hurling the full wine glass to the opposite side of his throne room. He watched it shatter against the stone walls, the dark liquor dripping on what was left of the carpet.
The crystal showed the girl in his worthless brother's arms. They had just kissed for the first time.
"What is he saying?" he wondered, as Jareth pulled away and opened his mouth to speak.
The only problem with these crystals of his, is that they did not permit sound. He found it impossible to figure out what it was he was saying. From the looks of it, it was something pathetically romantic.
The girl replied to him and they kissed again.
Tristan clapped his hands once and the crystal vanished from it's spying position and he slumped in his throne.
Tristan's plan had not worked as successfully as he would have liked it to. It had been better if his idiot of a brother had not appeared out of nowhere and interrupted it.
Jareth had been right though. The girl was simply beautiful. Full of life, spirit; she had love to give and Tristan would be the one to take her love, by force or by freewill.
But beautiful or not, she was an obstacle… an obstacle to overcome or remove (if necessary).
He rose from the throne and made his way to the wide window that overlooked his kingdom.
It was barren, nothing growing, except thorny trees and bushes every few feet. Mounds of earth were scattered here and there. The inhabitants had recently decided to move closer to the castle, prompting Tristan to build them a small, pathetic excuse for a town.
How he wished, for the thousandth time, that he had inherited the title of Goblin King.
The Labyrinth.
A land where everything is possible and nothing is what it seems.
He snapped out of his pangs of regret and balled his hands into tight fists. He thumped the window ledge. Hard. He ignored the now searing pain.
His thoughts of his old home crossed with thoughts of "beloved" Sarah. And an idea hit him…
"Oh yes, Jareth," he spat into the wind. "I'll have Sarah and the kingdom one way or another. You can count on that!"
