Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own Labyrinth or any of the characters etc associated with it, no matter how much I may wish I did.
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Chapter 3
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Once the world steadied itself around her once more, Sarah didn't need to look at her surroundings to know it wasn't her home she was currently stood in, but rather the castle beyond the goblin city. The small group had materialised directly in the middle of the lowered pit at the centre of the throne room, and Sarah found herself suddenly surrounded by goblins of varying shapes and sizes. She slowly pivoted on the spot to face the three responsible for her current presence in the Labyrinth, fingers twitching at her sides as her eyes narrowed.
"Take me back home, right now!" she ground out through clenched teeth. She noted Jareth was nowhere to be seen, though she was sure he was nearby, watching her current predicament with amusement through one of the ridiculous crystals he liked so much to flash around. The throne room also seemed to look a lot more unkempt compared to her last visit, chicken feathers littering the floor. She was somewhat surprised that Jareth would let his home become so unruly, particularly as he had always seemed to ensure his appearance was impeccable whenever she'd encountered him throughout her run.
"You can't go back, Miss Sarah. The Labyrinth bought you here, we need your help. It won't let you return." A small voice piped up from her left, catching her attention.
"What do you mean, "can't go back"?" Snapped Sarah in quick reply, her toleration for the situation rapidly beginning to wear thin.
"'E means that, as the rightful ruler in that rat Jareth's absence, y'can't jus' leave now," came a familiar deep, gravelly voice from the back of the crowd.
The goblins parted as three figures pushed their way through to the front of the gathered throng, Sarah's eyes widening at the sight of her friends approaching. Anger momentarily forgotten, a wide grin spread across her face and she rushed forwards to greet each of them, a large pair of hairy arms encircling her as soon as she was within reach of them.
"SAWAH!" A loud voice boomed from the great beast, reverberating around the room.
"Ludo, it's so good to see you!" Her voice was muffled against his fur as she embraced him in return, his arms locked tightly around her. When he released her a long moment later, she turned to face the next of the three; a little fox-terrier like creature with long whiskers, spindly little legs that was sporting an eyepatch. He swept down into a low bow once Sarah's attention was upon him, at which Sarah struggled to stifle a quiet giggle, curtsying as best she could in her jeans and sweater.
"My lady, what pleasure it brings me to gaze upon thee again." Whiskers twitching from side to side, when he rose from his bow Sarah was greeted by a toothy grin from the creature, her own growing at her delight to once again be in the company of her friends. Ambrosius was sat dutifully at his side, ever the faithful steed. The affectionate ruffle she bestowed upon the Sheepdog's head earned her a happy bark and wet lick upon the hand, which she furtively wiped dry against her jeans.
Whilst Sarah had missed each of them, it was the last of the three she was particularly happy to see once again. Hoggle was stood to the side, watching her interactions with the two whilst nervously fiddling with the plastic bracelet fixed around his wrist. He wore it always, a fond memory of the friend who had gifted it to him years before. A friend who was now stood before him once again, no longer a young girl but instead a grown woman. Yet despite the years that had passed he could tell she was still the same Sarah, whose imagination and fascination had been so captivated by the wonders the Labyrinth held.
A feeling of guilt began to creep over Sarah when her gaze fell upon Hoggle. It had been months since she'd last called upon her friends through her mirror, and she worried now that she had neglected them somewhat in recent years. Since her big move to begin a life in New York, Sarah had been kept rather busy with auditions and work, and contact with her Labyrinthine friends had grown less frequent.
"Oh Hoggle, I've missed you so much... I'm so sorry I haven't called on you all recently. My life has just been such a mess and I've been so busy and- Well, please forgive my neglecting you all. I've missed you all terribly, and I'm so happy to see you again." Glancing to her feet with remorse, she was glad when Hoggle piped up in response.
"S'good ta see ya 'gain too Sarah." The Dwarf shuffled from foot to foot, the current situation they all found themselves in making him feel particularly anxious, even if it had been temporarily forgotten by Sarah. "I s'ppose yer wonderin' what it is yer doing 'ere."
Sarah balled her hands, nodding her head in response as her anger at the situation began to bubble up within her once again. Releasing a heavy sigh to calm herself, Sarah addressed all three of her friends when she spoke. "I need to speak with Jareth, explain to him the concept of human rights and that he can't just go kidnapping people like this, the glittery bastard. Where is he?"
"But you see my lady, therein lies the problem. His majesty hast disappeared, and no one know'st to where." Sir Didymus' shrill voice explained.
"S'true Sarah, the rat bastard jus' up an' disappeared one day. We've spent the last few weeks now searchin' the whole Underground for 'im, all o' us..."
"But alas, t'was to no avail. His Majesty is nowhere to be found within our world." Sir Didymus interjected, much to Hoggle's annoyance.
"Well then if he's not here, where is he and why did he leave?" Her ire was rising once again at the trouble Jareth and his tricks was causing her.
The goblins were quickly becoming restless at having kept quiet so long and had begun to shuffle around. One clumsily disturbed a chicken which flew into the air with a loud squawk, the metal of the goblins armour grating together noisily as they moved within the quiet room.
"We don't know where 'e's gone, but he ain't Underground, tha's for sure. That only leaves the Aboveground as to where 'e could be. But why, or how, 'e left," Hoggle shrugged, mouth pressed into a hard line, "That we can't figure out. Jareth can't visit the Aboveground without bein' summoned, but if that were the reason for 'is absence, 'e would o' returned shortly after disappearing and the goblins would 'ave been aware o' the summons to accompany 'im above. Means somethin' must o' 'appened to the rat. An' not that 'e don't deserve whatever 'e gets, the Labyrinth needs a ruler to answer the summons from above and guard the gate between worlds."
Sarah struggled to digest what the dwarf was saying, faintly aware of a sense of worry beginning to stir within her. "So this isn't just one of Jareth's tricks, he's truly gone?"
The trio before her nodded in unison, a grim expression upon each of their faces.
Sarah threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, releasing a harsh exhale of breath. "Well even if that's the case, what the hell am I supposed to do about it?" Hoggle's nervous fidgets intensified at her question, not failing to escape Sarah's notice. "Hoggle, what aren't you telling me?"
"Well, y'see Sarah. Aw heck, the Labyrinth needs a ruler an' Jareth can't be found..." He trailed off in a quiet voice, unable to find the words to complete his sentence.
"Which means the Labyrinth needeth a ruler, My Lady. And by right of conquest, until his Majesty can be found, that means thee must taketh up the mantle of Goblin Queen." The small knight once again proudly cut in, though this time Hoggle found himself relieved at the action.
Sarah found herself lost for words at this last piece of information, staring at the three creatures stood before her, dumbfounded. When she eventually found her voice once more, her words were filled with a growing sense of panic. "Me, Goblin Queen? That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard, I can't possibly be Queen!"
"I'm afraid, My Lady, thee has't no choice. The Labyrinth hast chosen thee itself." Sir Didymus countered.
"Look, as flattered as I am that you want me to be Queen, I need to return home. Please, take me back, right now." Her large, emerald eyes searched the faces of her friends, silently pleading with them to do as she asked.
Hoggle shuffled to tuck himself slightly behind one of Ludo's great arms, his cowardly instincts beginning to kick in. "We can't, Sarah. I'm sorry. The Labyrinth bought ya 'ere, it sent the goblins ta bring ya back, an' now you're 'ere it won't let 'em return ya 'gain."
"Sawah stay?" Ludo added in, hope and excitement filling his voice.
"No! No, Sarah won't stay! Look, I'm sorry, but this is Jareth's mess, not mine. I have a life back home, and my family. I belong there, not here. Now send me back!" Sarah demanded, anger and panic beginning to boil over at the seemingly hopeless situation.
The three before her remained silent for a long moment before Sir Didymus found his voice once again, though unlike his usual shrill pitch, the words he spoke were much quieter and softer now. "My Lady, we cannot. T'is beyond our ability to doth so."
"Fine! If you won't help me, I'll find my own way home. After all, I escaped this place once, I can do it again." The bitterness lacing her words stung her three friends, causing them to flinch. Sarah stormed past them and through the crowd of goblins, hastily making her way towards the corridor that would lead her out into the goblin city.
The three quickly recovered with her retreat out into the Labyrinth, Hoggle and Sir Didymus racing after her as fast as they could, Ludo lumbering behind, followed by the goblin hordes. "My Lady, wait for us, please!" Didymus called after her swiftly retreating form.
Sarah let her feet carry her through the twisting corridor, relieved when she stumbled upon bright light beaming through the opening before her. Picking up her pace, Sarah burst through the great doors out into the goblin city, determined to find a way home through the great Labyrinth that stretched endlessly outward into the distance beyond the city walls. However, it wasn't the breath-taking sight of the maze that captured her attention, but rather the crumbling goblin city that confronted her. She stood in shock to see such a sight, horror passing over her features. It looked just as it had after her skirmish with the goblin army towards the end of her run, though where she expected it to have been long rebuilt by now, it was clear no attempt to do so had been made.
The great clamour approaching from behind her alerted her to the arrival of her pursuers, and quickly wiped at eyes that were filling with tears at such a saddening sight.
"Sarah?" Hoggle's coarse voice apprehensively called to her from behind.
Sarah remained silent however, glued to the spot, though she could feel her friends drawing nearer to her and the many pairs of goblin eyes boring into her back.
Seeing the goblin city in such a state filled her with dread at what condition the Labyrinth may fall into without a ruler. Jareth had clearly been neglecting his duties since her visit to his world, and she found herself worrying what troubles may have befallen him to cause him to do so. And then there was his recent disappearance. Perhaps the two were somehow linked? Regardless, it was clear that the Labyrinth needed help, and it seemed that the job of being that someone fell to her. It wasn't like her career as an actress was going anywhere anyways, and she had always felt out of place Aboveground. Besides, the last thing she wanted to be was like her mother. She'd abandoned Sarah and her father when Sarah was only a young child to pursue a career in acting, and Sarah had had only minimal contact with her mother since then. Sarah now found herself in a similar situation, where the Labyrinth and her friends desperately needed her help, and Sarah found she couldn't just abandon them in their time of need. Besides, it surely wouldn't take too long before they managed to find Jareth, restore him to his throne and Sarah could return home to her family.
Sarah took a deep inhale of breath to steady her nerves, nodded her head once to steel her resolve and turned to her friends. "Alright, how can I help?"
Jareth scowled as he emptied his fridge of the last remaining contents it held. He had awoken sprawled in the middle of the tiny apartment he now stood in just over a month ago, with no memory of whom or where he was. He couldn't fathom what had been the cause for his loss of memory either, finding no injuries to his head or any other body part for that matter upon inspection. Making a mental note to go food shopping after finishing his snack, he quickly whipped up a simple sandwich for lunch. He had soon established that he was in New York upon waking, though who he was still remained a mystery to him. After searching his apartment he had managed to find no contacts for any friends or family, and could find no mobile phone anywhere. After a month with no contact no one had come looking for him either, which only made him wonder more about who he was and why no one seemed to be missing him.
Money had been something of a problem at first; having woken with no memory meaning he was incapable of using his credit cards due to being unable to remember the pin numbers. This had resulted in his having to contact his card providers to cancel them all and request new ones, much to his chagrin. Luckily Jareth appeared to own the apartment he lived in, as no one had bothered him about owing rent so far. Yet even so, there were still bills to pay, and as far as he was aware, Jareth currently had no job, so money was limited.
Since waking, Jareth had found life over the past month extremely mundane, and had a strong sense that something was missing. As though there was somewhere important that he needed to be or something he should be doing, but he couldn't grasp just what. Shrugging it off as merely a subconscious response to his lack of memory, he tried not to pay it much thought. After all, even if there were somewhere else he needed to be, it wasn't like he could remember where it was, so there was little point in worrying over it. Wasting no time in devouring the sandwich he'd made to appease his grumbling stomach, Jareth snatched his leather jacket up from its hook by the door and exited his apartment, locking it behind him and shoving his keys deep into his jean pocket as he set off. He had found his wardrobe to consist mostly of dark jeans that clung tightly to his legs, shirts, form fitting t-shirts, boots, and a few tailored suits. As for his appearance, he obviously cared to maintain it. His hair was cut short and pale blonde in colour, falling in messy curls around the top of his head. Pale skin and a face that was all angles combined gave him the appearance of a marble Greek statue. The most unusual thing about him, however, were his eyes. Mismatched as they were, one remained permanently dilated, making the pale blue pools appear different in colour. He often found the eyes of women lingered on him when he passed down the street, and whilst he didn't mind such attention, he didn't find himself drawn to any of them in return.
Gracefully navigating his way through the crowded streets, Jareth soon turned into a supermarket he'd found fairly nearby to his apartment. Being unfamiliar with the streets of New York, he was unwilling to wander too far still for fear of becoming lost, but had spent his first couple of weeks after waking familiarising himself with the local area. Grabbing a basket on his way through the automatic doors, he proceeded to maneuver through the aisles within the supermarket, dropping various items into his basket as he went.
With a basket that was practically overflowing by the time he was done, Jareth eventually made his way towards the tills to pay for the items spilling out of their plastic container. The shop was fairly quiet at present, and so he was soon at the front of the queue to pay. Unloading the items, he set about packing them carefully into bags as the till attendant swiped them through. Once all the items were neatly loaded, he tugged his wallet from his back pocket and jammed his card into the machine.
"Sorry buddy, your card was rejected." The till attendant informed him, a look of extreme boredom plastered across his face.
"Hmm, try it again." Jareth commanded of the man, who did as he asked.
The man shook his head when the same outcome was reached. "Nope, rejected again. Sorry man."
Huffing, Jareth replaced the card in the machine with another, placing the first back in his wallet. "There, try that one."
Satisfied when the machine beeped to state that his card had been accepted, once the transaction was complete he returned his card to his wallet and his wallet to his back pocket in turn, lifting up the bags from the counter-top and heading towards the shop exit.
Lost to his thoughts, worrying over the realisation that he was extremely low on money with no current way of earning any more, Jareth failed to notice the young women entering the shop just as he exited. When they collided, Jareth barely managed to keep a hold of his bags, the women less fortunate as the flyers she was carrying flew into the air and she toppled backwards to the ground.
"No, no, no, no, no..." The small woman quickly recovered, scrambling around to recover the bits of paper that were now being shuffled across the pavement in the light breeze.
Jareth hastily placed his carrier bags on the ground, kneeling to assist her. Gathering the flyers closest to him, between the two of them they had all soon been retrieved. Jareth shuffled his into a neat pile, standing to face the woman. She was a petite, blonde woman with round blue eyes and thin, red lips. Hair pulled back into a messy bun and face decorated with a light coating of makeup, she made quite a pretty picture. However, it was the face that stared up at him from the flyers as he extended his arm to return them that truly caught his attention. Large, dazzling green eyes burned into his skull as he gazed into them through the paper he held, the fleeting image of a girl stood in a field acting out the story of the book she gripped in her hands flying through his head, disappearing as quickly as it came.
Momentarily disoriented, Jareth barely registered the "Thank you" the woman before him directed his way. It took him a moment to get a grip on his senses once again, but when he did he was confronted with an extended hand and a grateful smile.
Jareth released the hold he still had on the flyers, firmly shaking the woman's offered hand. "The woman on the flyer, who is she?" He inquired, glancing at her face once again, though this time no images accompanied his doing so.
The smile from the woman's face immediately fell, and her own eyes followed Jareth's to rest upon the printed image before her. "Her name's Sarah, she's been missing for about a week now. Just didn't show up for her shift at work one day, which isn't like her at all. No one's seen or heard from her and I haven't been able to find her anywhere."
"Sarah..." Jareth rolled the name off his tongue, enjoying the way it sounded.
"Yeah. Anyway, thank you for your help, Mr...? I'm Lucy by the way." The smile had returned to her face now, and her eyes to Jareth.
At Lucy's question, a puzzled look crossed Jareth's face. This was the first real exchange he'd had with anyone since waking that wasn't the angry blare of a horn and a few choice words directed his way when crossing a busy street, and so up to now he hadn't had to worry about introducing himself to anyone.
"What's the matter, don't know your own name?" Lucy joked, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Actually, no." At her accompanying look of inquiry to his statement, Jareth proceeded to inform Lucy of how he'd awoken with no memory, could find no contacts for friends or family and hadn't appeared to have been in any sort of accident, as well as his current predicament of needing a job, and quick. It was all very much a mystery. Lucy listened to his tale with rapt attention, fascinated by this strange, beautiful man and his story. Once he finished, an idea struck her.
"Well, you can't go walking around New York forever without a name. What about..." Lucy pondered over a few to herself for a short moment, studying him closely as she did. "David? You look like you could be a David."
Jareth wrinkled his nose at the suggestion, shaking his head in disapproval.
"Ok then, how about..." Narrowing her eyes, Lucy squared her jaw in thought. "Oh, I know! Garrett."
Mulling the name over in his head, he eventually decided he rather liked it, lips twisting into an impish grin. "Yes, I think that will do just fine. Garrett it is. Pleasure to meet you Lucy."
"You too. Anyway, I need to be heading off now, I've still got a lot of these to hang." She motioned to the stack of flyers in her hands. "But listen, you seem like a nice guy and you said you needed a job. Well, if Sarah isn't found soon there will be a spot opening up at the bar we both work. If you give me your number, I could give you a call and let you know?"
Jareth was now extremely grateful he had thought to buy himself a new phone after being unable to find one when he'd awoken, reciting his number for Lucy who punched it into a new contact on her own phone.
"Great, I'll talk to you soon then Garrett!" With a smile she slid past him into the supermarket to inquire about hanging a couple of the missing flyers on the shop windows.
Collecting his shopping bags from where they still sat on the ground at his feet, Jareth was quite pleased with the turn the day had just taken as he set off back towards his apartment.
A/N
This chapter took a little bit longer to write than I hoped it would, but here it is!
I'm hoping that I can get at least one more chapter written before I go back to Uni next week and have to focus on getting all my essays and shizzle done.
Just so you all have a reference, I'm using the 1982 David Bowie/Helmut Newton photoshoot as the basis for Jareth's appearance in the human world.
Also, I have finally discovered that the gorgeous cover image I am using for this story was made by sarahbethking on DeviantArt and you should all go have a look at it on there in its full sized glory!
As always, thank you for reading and please leave a review.
-Ella.
