The Moon Mad King

by WhiteInfinity21

Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth.


Chapter 5- Year Four, Eighth Moon

"So tell me again why I have to do this?" Toby asked.

Jareth had to suppress his impatience with the prince's deliberately inane questions.

"We are doing this because you are coming into your magic and therefore need to develop stability and control to be able to safely use them," Jareth explained again, "your recent experimentations have not gone unnoticed and it is far past time you receive proper instruction on how to safely use your magic."

"But I still don't see why it has to be you who teaches me," Toby complained.

"Because, I am the only person in the Underground who possesses the same form of magic that you do," Jareth curtly replied, "my mother taught me to use the royal goblin magic and her father taught her, just as I will be teaching you."

"But can't this wait until after-" Toby tried again.

"Absolutely not," Jareth interrupted, "you have been trying to put this off for three days by now. No more excuses. We are not leaving this room until you learn how to connect with the Labyrinth while not in the Heart."

Toby swallowed his words at the look on Jareth's face. Minutes passed in silence as Toby waited for instruction.

Impatience finally getting the best of him, the words burst out of Toby's mouth.

"Well? Aren't you going to start?" he demanded, "tell me what to do."

"What do you think you should do?" Jareth countered.

"What do I- Huh?" Toby sputtered, "why did you ask me that?"

"Lecturing you about the royal goblin magic is useless," Jareth answered, "to truly understand the magic, you must discover for yourself how the magic operates. Just telling you how to do it won't help at all."

"So?" Toby asked.

"So what?" the Goblin King retorted.

"So what should I be doing then?" the prince demanded, "how am I supposed to discover how the magic works?"

"Ah, now you're getting somewhere," Jareth said with a secretive smile, "asking the right questions is the key to learning."

"The right question, huh," Toby muttered, "there are so many, where should I start?"

"At the beginning of course!" Jareth chuckled, "you are learning to connect to the Heart on your own without the Labyrinth first contacting you. Start from there."

"How did you contact the Heart the first time you tried?" Toby tentatively asked.

"Ask a different question," Jareth told him.

"Okay. What did you do to contact the Heart then?" Toby tried again.

"Much better," Jareth praised, "but instead of giving you an answer, I will ask you a question instead: what were you doing when you first heard the Labyrinth's call?"

"Give me a moment," Toby requested.

About a minute later he had his reply.

"It was during the Lunar Solstice Festival, I was playing a game with some creatures that kept on changing forms every few seconds that kept on changing the rules every five minutes," Toby recalled, "I was connected to the air, the trees, the rocks, the stream nearby, everything. It was like my mind, for the first time in my life, was wide open and clear…oh. Oh!"

The pleased reaction on Jareth's face told Toby that he had figured it out.

"So all I have to do is clear my mind and open it up-" Toby excitedly continued, "-and... and… I don't know."

The enthusiastic expression on his face crumpled as Toby realized that he had no clue what to do. Dejected, the prince starred at his feet.

"Toby, there is nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it," the Goblin King murmured, his voice causing Toby to raise his head to look at Jareth.

"So how can I do it?" Toby hesitantly asked.

"Remember your meditation exercises?" Jareth prompted.

At Toby's nod, he continued, "start with those. I want you to calm your thoughts and reach your center. Once you have done that, I will instruct you on how to lower your mental shields and 'listen' with your mind for the voice of the Labyrinth. In time you won't have to do this when contacting the Heart, but doing it this way is the best method to teach you."

Jareth waited until he felt the prince's mind go calm and blank. Sitting down next to his heir, the Goblin King allowed himself to slip into a light trance and sent out a gentle probe with his mind, lightly touching Toby's natural mental barriers. Startled at the foreign feeling, Toby came to with a start, breaking the mental connection that Jareth had started to build with him.

"Wha? What was that?" Toby asked astonished.

"That was just me trying to contact you with my mind Tobias," Jareth responded with patience having expecting such a reaction from the boy, "start again and this time when I contact you, I want you to relax and complete the connection."

"How will I do that?" Toby dubiously asked.

"It is hard to explain," Jareth replied, "so I won't. It will come instinctively to you. Now settle down and reach your center again."

Toby grumbled but complied with his teacher's orders. This time when the Goblin King reached out to the twelve year old, Toby accepted his mental probe and "invited" him Jareth's presence into his mind.

Wow, you were right, Toby thought to Jareth as the connection slipped into place, wait? How did I just do that?

Communicating mind to mind is instinctual for most people who can use their minds in such a manner, Jareth replied, it's a talent you already possess and subconsciously comprehend, all you need to do is discover how to use it to contact the minds of other beings.

This is too cool! Toby exclaimed, I can't wait to tell Sarah about this. Bet that she doesn't know how to do this.

I wouldn't count on that Tobias, Jareth corrected the boy with amusement, how do you think your sister is able to listen to the Lady of the Crystal Moon? In fact, I think that I will get her to help tutor you in how to use your physic abilities. It will do both of you much good.

What? No way am I letting Sarah poke around in my head! Toby wailed, she would just use the opportunity to get blackmail material from my mind.

Have a bit more faith in your sister, Jareth sharply reprimanded Toby, she has more maturity than to look through someone's mind without their tact permission. She knows the morals of using her physic gifts and follows them without exception.

Now enough of this, it is time to continue your lesson, Jareth continued, open your mind's eye and observe what I do as I lower my mental shields.

Then, firmly projecting the picture into Toby's mind, Jareth showed the prince the mental image he had of his own personal mental barriers, a wall of glowing wall of light, that sparkled with silver glitter, and pictured the wall slowly sinking into his subconscious.

The Goblin King's mind with all it's twists, turns, hidden chambers and false doorways, much like the Escher room that lay in the center of the castle, was laid open to Toby's inspection. The temptation to venture within was great, but Toby resisted, respecting Jareth's privacy, having no doubts to the fact that the Goblin King could dispel the boy if he dared try.

Now I want you to build a picture of what you think your mental barriers look like, Jareth instructed, then I want you to imagine the barrier slowly going down until it is gone. You will be taught at a later time how to create an opening in your barrier instead of taking the entire thing down, but for now I want to completely remove the barrier.

Toby tried picturing what his mental barrier could look like, but every time he tried imagining a picture, it swiftly dissolved in his mind. He was starting to get frustrated and Jareth could sense it.

Relax, Jareth told him, don't force it.Let it come to you.

So Toby forced himself to relax, letting everything slide out of his mind once more as he found his center.

Good, Jareth informed Toby as he saw what the boy did, now open your mind's eye and look for the barrier.

This time Toby didn't even ask how to open his mind's eye, all it took was the desire to do so and suddenly he could "see" the interior of his mind that lay behind his mental barriers. It was a dizzying experience, and he quickly focused on looking for the barrier that surrounded his mind before he lost all sense of his self within his own consciousness.

Gliding further away from his center, Toby's astral form moved towards the barrier, ignoring the passageways and rooms that were zooming by. An eternal instant later he was there, craning his neck upwards to take in the endless mirror-like dome that completely enclosed his consciousness and protected it from outside invaders. Moving closer, Toby noted that it actually wasn't a smooth, unbroken mirror, but was made up of hexagonal shields, fitted seamlessly together with metallic colors rippling across its surface.

Toby touched the wall of six-sided shields and felt a low buzz coming from the structure. It was absolutely marvelous to him, everything and beyond he had ever expected or imagined.

Toby, enough dawdling, Jareth's voice cut into his rapture.

Toby jerked his head around and felt his jaw drop open. Standing next to him was the Goblin King wearing a dove grey outfit with the typical skin-tight breeches, a loose silk, long-sleeved top and a cape covered with owl feathers. His teacher was obviously not amused by the prince's rude gaping and cleared his throat.

Err, right, Toby belatedly regained his wits, back to the lesson.

All it took to dismantle the thin, but incredibly sturdy wall of shields, was a light touch from Toby and the desire to see it retracted. Starting from the top of the barrier, the six-sided metal shields began moving to overlap the shields next to them. The empty hole at the center of his barrier quickly grew as the process continued. Soon all that was left was a single, thick shield that was attached to the arm of Toby's astral body. He was amazed by how easily all of this was coming to him, it was as if he had known how to do such things for his entire life.

Excellent, Jareth spoke, you are a natural. Now observe.

Entranced, Toby watched as the Goblin King lifted an arm and shot a green-blue beam of light tinged with silver off into the void that lay between the mental and physical levels of existence. Seconds later, a golden brown beam of light returned to him, embracing the line of power that belonged to Jareth and wrapped around his arm.

Neat! Toby chimed.

That's one way to describe it, Jareth chuckled, but before you start shooting off mental lines all over the place, you should have a good idea of the person or place where you want to send your probe. Extend your senses, try to locate where the Heart is in regards to your location.

Unsure of exactly what Jareth had meant by extending his senses Toby imagined sending out a wave of thought into the empty space beyond, sort of like echolocation or radar . Focusing on his self-assigned task, both Toby and the Goblin King were slightly shocked when a bell-like sound resonated from the core of his subconscious and a series of waves rapidly shot past the pair, vanishing into the distance. Fractions of a second later a series of echoes came back at Toby, having bounced off of nearby minds and acquiring the color the colors associated with the owner of the mind Toby's thought wave had come into contact with.

Instantly homing in on the golden-brown colored echo, Toby shot out more of waves until he had pin-pointed the location of the Heart from the echoes that came back to him.

Erm, that was very unusual, Jareth remarked, just exactly will you call that technique?

Physic radar, Toby replied with a mental grin.

Sensing Jareth's confusion, he added, it's an Aboveground thing, ask Sarah about it if you want to know the details.

You certainly are full of surprises today, Jareth commented, it appears that Selene's decision to choose you as my successor and Sarah's judgment about your abilities were right.

Jareth paused for a second to recover his train of thought.

Based on what I've seen from you so far, I assume that you already have an idea about what to do next? Jareth inquired.

Toby's response was to shoot a physic line out of his hand in the direction he had determined the Labyrinth's Heart to be. The color of his line was a brilliant blue, like the sky on a clear, hot summer day, so deep that one felt as if it was endless. Just like had happened when the Goblin King sent out his line, the Heart returned Toby's probe, establishing contact with the prince in less than a second.

Connecting to the Labyrinth like this felt exactly the same way it did when Toby was immersed in the Heart, warm, safe and loved. The feeling wasn't overpowering, merely supportive, warming Toby's heart and filling him with soft happiness.

Enough Toby, Jareth's voice brought the prince back to awareness, now that you have established contact with the Labyrinth's soul from outside the Heart, you should be able do it from anywhere within the kingdom. I want you to disconnect yourself and slowly come back to the outside world.

With reluctance, Toby gently unwound the Labyrinth's energy line from his arm and sent it back to where it had come from. He then detached the shield from his arm and left it to hang in the space in front of him. The single shield became two shields, then four, eight and so on, quickly replicating as they reformed back into their natural formation. The Goblin King's presence in his mind had withdrawn by this point and all that was left was for Toby to come back to the physical world. Flying back to his center, the prince allowed his awareness of the world of his conscious fade, bringing the feel of the outside world back with sharp clarity.

The sudden onslaught of sensations overwhelmed the twelve year old and Jareth had to rush to catch the prince before he hit the ground.

"Ugh," Toby groaned as he fought off the dizzy spell, "what was that?"

"After being immersed in your mind for so long, the outside world tends to overwhelm the inexperienced when they first come back," Jareth explained, helping Toby sit down in a nearby chair, "you'll be fine in a few moments. Just wait until you recover your equilibrium before trying to make any sudden movements."

"It feels like only a few minutes have passed," Toby commented.

"Time passes much more quickly than you would think when you are in your center," Jareth replied, "we have actually been at this for many hours."

"You have got to be kidding me," the adolescent grumbled.

"Now why would I do that?" Jareth innocently asked.

"That question doesn't deserve an answer," Toby snorted.

"Peach?" Jareth asked.

"What?" Toby blurted out at the Goblin King's abrupt change of topic.

"You need to regain your energy after all that you did today," Jareth responded, "learning how to use your mental abilities takes a lot of out a person."

Jareth held the ripe fruit out to the now starving boy. Toby didn't even hesitate, he snatched the peach out of the Goblin King's hand and gobbled it down with relish. Jareth chuckled and pushed the rest of the plate full of high-energy food at his heir, taking a handful of strawberries for himself. Between the two of them they cleared the plate in a few moments.

"Dinner will be in about an hour," Jareth mentioned as he strode out of the room, "I expect you to be clean and presentable, we're having guests."

Wonder who is eating with us tonight? Toby thought as he quickly made his way to his rooms, hopefully not those dull, haughty nobles that were visiting last week. I hope Sarah will be there, she always is able to make even the most boring and slow events so… interesting.


Sarah was in fact waiting for her little brother in his chambers.

"Hi squirt," Sarah greeted.

"Hey sis," Toby replied, "What's up? You coming to dinner?"

"I wouldn't miss this one for the world," she secretively answered.

At Toby's confused expression, Sarah added, "let's just say that some old 'friends' are coming to dinner tonight. Just don't tell Jareth about it, wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

"I gotta see this," Toby smirked.

"Got to," Sarah corrected, "you are a prince after all, you need to speak like one."

"Whatever," Toby waved her off, "now get out of my room, I need to get ready."

"Aww, wittle Toby embarrassed to have his older sister in his room?" Sarah teased, taking to him as if he was still two years old.

"Sarah" Toby groaned, "go away!"

Sarah allowed herself to be chased out, laughing all the while.

"Sisters, can't live with them, can do without them most of the time," Toby sighed.


Part 3 will be up sometime this weekend. Please leave a review on your way out.