I'm digging the super short chappies for now. Like I said, mostly slice of life, but to a purpose. Tempted to take things in a lime-y direction, just because I haven't done that in a while and they just scream for it. At least they do in this telling anyway.

Disclaimer: see part 1

When you have all the time in the world you get very skilled at ignoring its passing. In his approximately three centuries of life Jareth had gotten quite adept at waiting. The younger and therefore less important son to his father he had been given a title more punishment than honor after his first century and sent to the wilds of the Underground to very literally babysit. Removed from the politics of his people, and practically left in a cupboard for safekeeping should something happen to his older (and much more impetuous) brother, Jareth passed time perfecting the magic he had been born with. Unlike the martial magic inborn to his other sibling, Jareth's strengths were in illusion and disguise, dreams and transformations.

Tricking goblins and small children wasn't exactly a challenge, so when he got to practice on runners he spared no effort to dazzle. It was Jareth that pointed out to his kingly father that runners appeared less often, and that when they did they were by and large much more confused about the rules of the Underground than they used to be. It was a crisis of faith, and Jareth's kingdom was one of the most obvious manifestations.

Bureaucracy being what it was in fae courts, it took nearly another century after Jareth first reported on it when they found they needed to act. Someone had to discover how the world had changed, develop a solution to reinsert knowledge and belief of the fae into it, and at first it seemed like his brother was the man for the job. It didn't take long for his brother to return with tales of horrific wars that gripped every corner of the world, and weapons the like of which their people could not imagine even in nightmares. Whatever his brother had experienced sent him back changed, and unwilling to discuss what it was that had disturbed him so.

No one was ready to volunteer after that, and when they did they were often talked out of it by family members or friends who couldn't bear them to face the trials that a prince of the fae couldn't overcome.

When Jareth volunteered, he remembered that icy feeling that stole over his heart when no one pleaded with him to stay except his mother. And even she didn't try so very hard to keep him. After all these years, despite being her son, there was stigma to being the Goblin King. For a society where it was difficult to have children, being a snatcher of other people's progeny was akin to being a cold blooded murderer. Jareth stole dynasties from mortals.

What seemed like a death sentence to his people had looked all too much to Jareth like freedom.

Magic, Jareth discovered, was much harder in the mortal realm. The days when the veil between worlds was thin he felt like himself, but most days he was tired from proximity to iron and the absence of familiar sights and sounds. If homesickness were a real illness, he might have contracted it. That he missed his messy castle full of goblins, their pet chickens, and any number of foster children he had yet to home with likely fae seemed like madness. Why would he miss his burdens as much as he missed power? The vernal equinox was on its way, and with it one of the few days of the year he had a true normality.

"Any big spring break plans?" Sarah asked him, as she scribbled copied answered from his probability review sheet onto her own. Tomorrow, Friday, they had a test and she'd need to study tonight to pass, as he knew her excellent memory for samples was the only reason she could navigate numbers. It had only been a few days but her presence had become one of the things that now distinguished the school days apart from one another. Three years in the school had been a blur until this point.

"I might visit family." Innocuous. True. It sounded like the kind of thing a human boy would do for the artificial holiday these teenagers observed. No one talked about the coming of spring or the changing of seasons like people used to, and like his people still did. The smell of spring in the air was seductive with promises of renewal. Many of the teenagers in school were acting up and the culprit was as much the shifting of the seasons as the anticipation of break, only the humans would never admit to it.

"Oh," she looked disappointed, then said quickly. "I was hoping maybe I'd see you around. Rumor is there's a party this weekend." She didn't say it with any sense of excitement. Perhaps she was testing him to see if he was the kind of person that liked such things. Drunken revels had their place, but he hadn't indulged in such things with any regularity.

Jareth arched an eyebrow at her. She was obviously drawn to him, and once he'd realized she had true sight and could see through his glamour without much effort he became very interested in her as well.

"Are you sure you're not angling for help on the math packets?" He knew she wasn't, but he felt like opening up an opportunity for her to meet him outside of school. It was risky, but it was even more risky to let her continue to nose around him without directing her movements a bit.

Her cheeks colored attractively, and he thought on how she always came to English from P.E. flushed and glowing. She was the kind of girl that the less scrupulous of his kind might lure just to see how prettily she'd scream over her captivity. Jareth had spent too much time with humans and human children to be able to pretend they were toys, but the impulse to play with her a little was strong despite that.

"My family lives nearby, I won't be gone the whole week." Still scribbling notes, he saw the corner of her mouth draw up in a pleased smile. "If you'd like to meet…"

The bell rang before Sarah could give her answer, and that nosy friend of hers practically jumped on top of her to haul her to lunch. Sarah was bringing so much attention to him lately that he found his simple glamour was not holding up against true scrutiny. The friend squinted a little and then gave him a smile that wanted to flirt but came just short out of deference to Sarah.

"You've had her all period and now it's my turn," she stuck out her tongue at him and he allowed himself to stick a little dazzle into the smile he gave back to her in return. A sliver of him worried at what Sarah saw when she looked at him, as he couldn't control that. True sight meant she saw him as he was, not as he projected, and it was a little unsettling that he had no mask where she was involved.

Picking up his books, Jareth moved out of the classroom towards the baseball field where he would read on the bleachers until it was time to go to orchestra. He might present illusions in some classes, but in the ones he cared about—music, chemistry, math—it was all coming from his own effort. It was all to purpose, and all to plan, and he just hoped Sarah didn't present herself as an obstacle to that plan. In his heart, he didn't want to have to choose to harm her for the good of his people, but the equinox would give him the tools determine how big of a threat she might become.