Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth, or Jareth. Jim Henson & Co. do.
Rating: PG-13 (For use of improper language)
Author's note:
As Jaclyn and Hoggle walked together down a path, Jaclyn realized how much shorter than her Hoggle really was. For a cat, he was small. She was looking down at him when she saw something shiny on the ground. It was a crystal like the one Jareth always has. It rolled past them.
"Oh no," Hoggle muttered.
They came upon a beggar that picked up the crystal and put it in his cup. "What's this we have here?" he asked.
Hoggle saw through this beggar, not like Jaclyn. He backed against a wall. "Nothing," he said.
"Nothing?" the beggar repeated then his voice changed, "Nothing? Nothing, tra-la-la?" He suddenly grew and the beggar seemed to fall limp as cloth. Jareth was there instead. He held the costume in his hand.
"Oh, your majesty," Hoggle said, stuttering a little, "Fancy seeing you in a place like this."
"Hello, Headwart," Jareth, greeted him.
"Hoggle," he corrected.
"Whatever," Jareth said, "Don't tell me that you are helping this girl? Because if you are I'll give you this warning: I'll personally throw you, head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench. Am I understood?"
Hoggle gave a small cry of fear. "Please," he begged, "Not that! I wasn't helping her. I don't help anyone, you know that."
"Of course," Jareth said, "Then, if you wouldn't mind, run up the hallway. Leave me."
Hoggle nodded and did as he was told. Such a ferocious-looking cat, scared to death by one man…or whatever Jareth was. He turned to Jaclyn.
"You must really have a way of persuasion with creatures," he said, "I can never get anyone to do what I want without threatening them."
"Why don't you try not threatening them?" Jaclyn asked. "It's an awful way to get your way."
"Oh, and yours is so much better," he said, sarcastically, "just wine and throw a tantrum. That always works for you, doesn't it?"
Her face heated. How did he know that she does that? "How long have you been watching me?" she asked.
Jareth allowed a smirk. "You've seen that little owl outside your window, haven't you?" he asked, "Well, how long has it been there? As long as it's been there, I've watched you."
"That's creepy," she said. Then she remembered a few questions that had been nagging her for quite some time. "What is with those crystals?" she asked, "And why don't you look like a goblin if you're the goblin king?"
He raised an eyebrow at the description of "creepy." "These crystals are my scrying glasses, so to speak," he explained, "and would you rather I did look like a goblin? I wouldn't. Anyway, I'm not a goblin. I'm just their king. It's quite complicated really."
"Okay," she said, "then here's one more question. Why do you keep helping me?"
He opened his mouth as if to say something, then realized he didn't know the answer to that question. He thought on it for a few moments. "I help you because that is my choice," he said at last, "Is that something wrong?"
"No," she said hurriedly, "I appreciate it. But why do you help, but you don't let others help?"
"You said one more question," he said, "That's two. I'm sorry, but your time is up." He let a small silence fall between them. Then he spoke up again. "What do you think of my labyrinth? Easy?"
She didn't answer at once, but she decided to lie just because he wouldn't answer one of her questions. "It's a piece of cake," she said.
"Oh really?" he said, his expression very passive, "How about I make this harder then?" He pointed behind him and the thirteen clock was there again. The clock's minute had started the spin quickly taking a few hours off her already depleted time.
"That's not fair!" she exclaimed.
"What is with you and that phrase," he stated, "Life isn't fair, and you should get over it." He moved to walk past her.
"Hey, wait just a minute," she said, grabbing his arm, "You said I had thirteen hours to find your castle. Now you broke your own rule."
"I did say that," he said, "You had thirteen hours. Not anymore. So why don't you stop complaining and hurry and find your brother?"
"But you cheated," she said.
He pulled his arm away from her and a crystal appeared in his hand. He threw it down the hall in the direction Hoggle had gone. "No go, quickly," he said before disappearing.
It was after a few beats that she heard Hoggle yelling and running her way. He was followed by a larger, spinning machine with many blades that turned different directions.
"What the hell is that?" she exclaimed and ran away.
