Disclaimer

Labyrinth and the characters of Jareth and Sarah© Jim Henson

All goblin information I use is drawn from Brian Froud and Terry Jones's book 'The Goblins of Labyrinth'

However Artistic Licence has also been employed in order to fit the story's needs.

And finally, All original ideas belong to me.

Special disclaimer this week; all characters of Harry Potter are ©J.K Rowling.

Okay, what can I say this week? Well, um, lets start off by announcing this is the beginning of the turning point to lead towards Jareth admitting his affections for Sarah. We see a little of it in this chapter, but not a lot. This is like the first domino in the line, so keep reading. In another matter, we were given the tedious task of watching the first Harry Potter movie in film and television class today. Pretty boring, in fact, I was almost falling asleep. Of course, just as I was about to put my head on the desk, Harry enters the bank of Gringrots. And without a lie, what's the first image my mind thinks up!?

Jareth Meets Harry Potter!

Jareth is sitting in his chair, holding a copy of the Harry Potter book, exclaiming. "Goblin's don't run banks!"

So that's my thoughts for this week, here's hopping you found it as amusing as I did. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter the fourth

From his Labyrinth, seeing Sarah lose part of her self confidence was almost sad to his eyes. Almost. For once Sarah was broken, what would Jareth do then. Groeg had already started his work, the salt was a good idea. The more he got Irene involved, the faster things would move along. Sarah was trying to drown out Groeg with a music playing device. The waste which played in the room was nothing compared to what melodies Jareth could conjure up.

Groeg was letting Sarah's mind take a break. No doubt he would put more force into it while she slept, telling her words of misendearment, until she just gave up. As the music continued playing, Sarah's mind became less and less active until she was at last resting. Now Groeg would have his chance.'Why am I so disappointing to my father, It's my fault Irene hates me, Toby must hate me too, they don't care for me, I'm just a burden to them, a money wasting brat, I should forget my dreams, they'll never come true. Fairies don't really exis-"

"Groeg!" Jareth Said, letting his voice flow through the crystal and to the creature. It looked at curiously around itself. Jareth sighed, he should just let him do as he wish. But If Sarah stopped believing, he no longer had permission to use her for his entertainment. No, let her keep her innocent dreams. " Don't touch her dreams. Just her spirit. Her confidence," He realised then he was on the edge of his seat, and relaxed back into it, rearranging himself comfortably.

Sarah's face was pained to say the least, even in her dreams she seemed to be keeping these ideas away from her. "Not true, Can't be," she said drearily.

'If I'm such a nice person, why don't I have friends? Why do bad things happening to me? I'm being punished for being such a foolish girl, Not even my mother would want me-"

Sarah shot out of bed then, her cry of 'no' would have been much more audible had she not bitten down on her lip in time. Her head turned to the mirror, decorated with multiple pictures of a woman. Her mother obviously. Sarah crossed the room, picking up one of the photos. "I'm not a disappointment to you. You'd still want me," she said out loud, thinking no one was around to hear. Her face was struggling, trying to convince herself in her words, but Groeg's influence was dawning on her.

"Yes," Jareth said. Suddenly taking pity on Sarah.

"Groeg! Tell her yes!" He ordered, finding a strange sensation of humility when he saw Sarah's face at ease once Groeg, or what Sarah thought was her conscience, agreed with her.

She put the picture down, realising she was still dressed now, and went looking for Pyjamas. A wicked grin replaced Jareth's pity for her when he noticed his goblins hiding them under her pillow.

He closed the crystal, cupping his chin with his hand. The goblins which played at his feet brought no sense of pity to him. He didn't care that he made them miserable, or that his leadership over them was out of fear. From this brief moment, a hatred for Sarah grew in him. A hatred to see her free and away from his grip, he wanted Sarah to be afraid of him, just as his goblins were. Like all those who inhabited his Labyrinth. Why was it she who had the ability to suddenly make him feel so…weak? It was a new sensation to him, to feel, powerless. Even if it was just brief. Jareth took the now imageless crystal, looking at it as if it could tell him what the answer was, before reeling his arm back and throwing it from the tower of his main chamber, to the goblin city below. " What an abhorrent turn out this is," He said, heading towards his chambers. Now he had ordered Groeg to stop, it meant there was nothing to watch, with Sarah sleeping and all. He would have to turn in himself.

"What're we Gonna do! Gruempy the goblin Said, jumping about in hysteria, which was a lot like what he did most days. As usual, Fowler remained silent. He had been this way for some time now, in fact, since Jareth had sent the goblins ,Gruempy and Fowler, to follow the human girl 'Sirha.'

Gruempy had been having a hard time stopping Fowler from taking the items they were moving about, and storing them in...wherever he stored his things. Fowler was a goblin known for taking things and never returning them, and stopping him from doing this, was what Gruempy was having the most trouble with. So far, he had managed to save a vast amount of items from Fowler's clutches, but he was bound to slip up at some point. That point, happened to be today.

"We were just meant to move things, not take them!" He continued exclaiming, clearly distraught. How would Jareth punish them?

The lost article in question, was a silver plated pair of butterfly wing clips given to Sarah when she was in fourth grade. The gift had previously belonged to a girl in Sarah's class, but moved to England some time ago. Sarah had kept the clips as a reminder, and valued them highly. The girl who had given them to her, was the last person she had admitted her belief in faerie things to, and for that reason, they remained precious to her. She hardly wore them, if ever, but they were always there as a keep sake to her memories. Now, thanks to a thieving goblin, they would be gone forever. "Just bring them back here Fowler, and then we won't have to be…be…." Nope, Gruempy couldn't even imagine what Jareth would do to them for removing such a prized item of his new toy's possession.

Inside the house, Sarah ran about looking for the missing clips rather frantically once she awoke. She had only been up for a few hours when the strange disappearing act had began. Normally, she was angry. But today was different. They had taken something from her which meant so much more to her than a missing stuffed animal or key. This item, was something they shouldn't have messed with.

Like Sarah, Jareth was awake, watching from his crystal, curious as to how soon his goblins would be returning the missing item. They had never kept an item from her for this long, and he was anxious to see them return it to her.

"Where are the clips?" He asked, spinning his crystal in a manner, so that it's image changed to reflect the portrait of his two goblin accomplices. The more talkative of the two seemed out of sorts, he looked around the air as he heard Jareth's voice. For even though Jareth could see them through his crystal very clearly, they had no way off looking back, only hearing as he spoke.

"G-G-Gone," Gruempy started, still glancing about the sky as if Jareth was up there. He was cut off suddenly as a loud. 'WHAT!' echoed about him, causing the goblin to shudder in fright. Around him, the angered voice of his king bounced everywhere, making the very air about vibrate. Of course, only Fowler and himself could hear it, the rest of the world remain oblivious to the shout of his kingship. "Where!?" Hissed the voice. "How?" again, it was an agitated and commanding voice. Nothing would now save the two goblins from Jareth's wrath. Gruempy shuddered again in terror at the thought. "F-F-Fowler. He's hidden them from her. Permanently,"

"Well tell that idiot to bring them back! I told you NOT to thief her things, do you understand that? NOT to take her things," The voice continued to reverberate around the heavens with a temper so vicious it would have turned even the most fierce beast into a trembling mess.

"Bu-but Fowler! He has done this, not I. I am loyal, faithful, do as told, nothing have I don-"

"Quiet!" the voice silenced him. "Return them, and if you fail you shall never see the walls of the labyrinth again!"

Jareth folded his face into his hands, his entire form shaking with anger. Could they not comprehend instructions, did they have such a trouble with basic English? Yes, it was their second tongue, but they knew the difference between the word stealing and borrowing. In fact he knew they did, it was a line they often treaded with him almost everyday.

Jareth was a dictating and manipulative ruler, but he did not steal. Not really anyway. He had given Sarah's script back after all, and he had waited until she asked him to meddle before exerting any magic into her life. He was in actually fact, a generous man. Or at least he thought he was.

Gruempy looked over at Fowler, a maddening look in his eyes. "Where is it Fowler?" He said, his tone an octave higher than normal. "You heard how angry his is, do you want to be thrown into the bog!?" Fowler stood stock still, looking at Gruempy the same way he looked at everything. With shifty eyes and a mistrusting glance, he wasn't telling the goblin nothing about the clips, or anything else he had taken over the last century. They were his now, and even if he went back to them smelling like the scent of a thousand rubbish tips, they would still be his. Gruempy threw another dirty look at Fowler, before turning around and pacing.

"Can't beg, can't bargain, can't threaten, can't do nothing! But gotta do something, Gotta find it, gotta find something!" And just then, an event unheard of for many, many years occurred. Gruempy got an idea. That was it, he had to find, Something! Fowler had taken the item, it was lost, gone, vanished to someplace no one could find. But… what if he found a new Something? The clips were impossible to get back, but a new Something of equal value might be good enough! Sure, it would be hard to make up for the sentimental value, but what if you could match it with material value? Make the loss of the other item a little easier. Yes! It was the only possible solution, the only one. Of that Gruempy was…mostly sure. For what goblin can say they believe in something one hundred percent?

Now all Gruempy could do was wait. Wait for Jareth to blare his booming voice out to the goblin pair again, wait for Fowler to attempt to steal again so he could stop him, and wait for the eventual punishment Jareth would put on them.

From his crystal, Jareth could see the pair slacking off. He had given them an order over two minutes ago, and they were still laying about like…like goblins!

"Well!?" He said into the crystal, knowing that the goblins below would hear him as they had done previously. The talkative goblin jumped, the silent one did nothing. "You-you haven't given us anytime to look!" stuttered the non-silent goblin.

"Not that you were using that time productively where you?" He retorted. The goblin flinched. "W-Well, you see. I had an idea," The goblin seemed sheepish. Jareth scoffed. Goblins didn't have ideas. "Unless that idea has to do with you, and those missing clips, I don't think you have much to talk of with me,' As scowl was on his face as the goblin continue wasting his time.

Gruempy stood his ground, trying to get his constantly wild thoughts to line up. He shook his head trying to clear them. "The clips are lost-"

Jareth clenched his fist, trying to maintain his temper.

"-But, what if we replaced the item for the little lady…Lord," the goblin added cowardly. There was silence for a while.

He was surprised for some time. The last idea a goblin had come up with, had not been for a long time, and it certainly hadn't been of use. However, this goblin seemed to have come up with a solution. Jareth was not unwise to the ways of Fowler. He knew of the goblin's infamous reputation as a thief and his secret stash which was impossible to locate. Jareth admitted, it would be foolish to seek them if what the goblin said was true, and Fowler had taken them. "With what?" He asked at last, his voice less cross than before.