This is a disclaimer. The reason this is a disclaimer, is because the work, known as the Labyrinth, does not belong to me. This is fanfiction, people. Meaning that I do not own Jareth, Sarah, the Underground, or any of those delightful little wonders we love about this movie. Doesn't that bite. Labyrinth is a work of Jim Henson, may he rest in peace. (Though if he knew about those mangas, from what I've heard, he wouldn't be.) It is meant as a tribute to the original work, not a ripoff. I am making no money.
That being said, what's left of this fic, is mine.
Yes, I realize this is very short, only five pages this time, but I wanted to get something up tonight, and this probably stands best alone anyway. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to rush off to work... Man, just love working the midnight shift...
Regardless of the time of day in various other parts of the Underground, here it was night. True, an actual time couldn't be easily determined- not that time ever passed anything near normally in the Underground- since here, it was always night, but had Sarah been there, she probably would have felt something akin to relief, that in places at least, the sky did actually change.
Sarah however, was not here, and so the only one- almost the only one- in a position to appreciate the dazzling display of dancing lights in the heavens, ribbons of blue and brilliant violet, rippling across the sea of stars, and banding the ever present moon… was Hoggle. And he couldn't care two whits about it.
Grumbling under his breath, the creases of his face cast in severe shadow, he sat squatly on the misshapen boulder among the trees, and with thumb pressed firmly against its flat back, plied his little knife in delicate incisions along what had once been a thick length of branch, and was, now, slowly beginning to take on recognizable features.
He cursed himself roundly while he worked, calling himself 'useless,' and 'a failure.' And when he wasn't bemoaning his own lacking, he was, with an occasional shifty glance around to make certain he wasn't being overheard, cursing Jareth instead, in the most colorful language he could think of. And appearances to the otherwise notwithstanding, he could be very creative, when he needed to.
A short rustle in the brush made him stop, and lift his head slowly, a more or less ever present scowl creasing his already folded features, as he stared at what was, without a doubt, the strangest looking shrub in all the Underground. Possibly because the majority of it was made up of a towering, lumpy mass of long red fur, with slender tree branches grasped firmly in either hand, trying vainly to use its sparse leaves to hide a gentle, fearsome face.
"And don't think I don't see you!" Hoggle yelled at the oversized red-headed yeti, shaking his knife in Ludo's direction in an empty show of threat. "You can just get on out of here! You're her friend, not mine!"
"Uhhh." Ludo blinked small, black eyes, and shuffled back a couple steps, trying again to disappear behind his meager camouflage, much to the apparent disgust of Hoggle, who shook his head with a grunt, turning back to his whittling with no more mind for rock-headed hanger's-on.
And he picked up his cursing right where he'd left off too. "Don't know why she'd come back now… Just gonna cause trouble. Already forgotten us, hasn't she?" A pause, as his cross gaze stared off into space, becoming, for a moment, disturbed. "Forgotten me, anyway." And with a wave of his hand, pulling himself from his mulling, "No way Jareth's not gonna do something about it this time!"
"You are right, you know." Interrupted a rich, threatening rasp, making Hoggle jump to his feet with wide frightened eyes, carving and blade held more tightly in his grasp, as if they might offer some measure of defense. "Oh, put those down… You know bloody well you're not about to try attacking me, Hogs-wit."
"Hoggle…" The single word came out somewhat like a breath, as the dwarf finally turned, and took in the sight of the goblin king, looking no more pleased than he had any night since being cheated out of his prize by a mere mortal girl. "Whu… What d'you want?"
"Entertainment, at the moment." He noted, a bit off handedly, as he tugged absently on the wrist of his gloves. "A little heartfelt groveling wouldn't be misplaced, considering how poorly you've been following my orders of late." A vague, feigned smile. "How about it Hogget, feel like a little begging?"
Shaking a little, both with anger, and with fear to Jareth's response over words he hadn't even said yet, Hoggle just squared his jaw, and shook his head, in a show at defiance. "I don't listen to you no more, Jareth!" A pause, then, "And I don't beg!" He finished, nodding firmly… even if he was taking small steps back while he said it, and kept glancing, nervously, side to side, in an effort to avoid the goblin king's gaze.
"My, my… How brave you've gotten, Hoggrel." Jareth didn't so much as lift an eyebrow at the dwarf's promise of defiance, his tone suggesting that it was just one of those little phases he probably went through from time to time, and who the hell really paid attention? "But if we're skipping the groveling… then I suppose I should just go straight to the reason I came to see you."
Hoggle paused, his brow wrinkling up, more than usual. His fingers twitched a little, as he held the knife and bit of wood, but other than that, he gave little other sign now, of his worry. He was feeling, now that he'd said his bit, and hadn't been tossed head-first into the nearest swamp, a little of the defiance he'd been feigning at a moment before. "And what might that be?" He demanded… Insofar as anyone could ever demand anything of the goblin king.
"Well." Jareth finally straightened up a little from his casual slouch, the fine black feathers lining his collar twisting, just so, in a careless breeze. "First of all, you should know that your precious Sarah has returned to you. Even now," A vague wave of his hand, "Traipsing through the perils of my labyrinth, stubborn and proud as ever… desperate to find a handful of forgotten dreams."
Hoggle waited for more, but when it was apparent that more wasn't coming, he just dropped his head, dug one heel into the soft ground, unnoticed, and reflected on the fact that he was quite certain that Jareth knew damn well, that he already knew Sarah was back, and had been for some time. "Yeah?" He muttered, as if indifferently. "I knows it."
Now, finally, Jareth offered a reaction… If as deliberately feigned as his smile had been before. Surprise. "Well then, what are you waiting for, Hedgewort? Go," A flick of his fingers, mockingly, "Run to your Sarah's aide, help her find her missing dreams… Or…" A pause, and a slight, thoughtful tilt of his unruly mane. "Are you still so upset that your precious Sarah abandoned you?"
In a sparse handful of words, Jareth had, as he always did, taken Hoggle's confidence, and crushed it to bits. Without even seeming to say anything at all related to it. "She… she didn't abandon me." He denied softly, under his breath, staring at the dirt again. Like he didn't believe it himself.
And Jareth went on, without seeming to even notice the effect his previous words had had on the small man's confidence, musing, "…And after all you did for her too…" A sigh. "How ungrateful these mortal girls can be." And with a pointed glance. "Believe me, I know."
"You-" Hoggle stared to echo in disbelief, slowly lifting his head again, as finally, anger seemed to overcome the best of him, and he managed to stand a little straighter, tilting his chin up, hurt holding its footing where pride had failed. "Don't think I don't know it was all your doing, Jareth! Making her lose her dreams…" His voice broke a little, as he added, his head dropping again., "Making her… forget."
"Yes, yes, of course." Jareth agreed, not the least put-off at being blamed… again. At least not by Hoggle. "Clearly it was me. Now… Higgle…"
"Hoggle!" The dwarf yelled, half gasp, as he didn't know himself if he was trying to be defiant anymore, or had just lost complete use of his senses, trying, at the last minute, to take another handful of steps back. "It's… it's Hoggle…"
"Heggle…" Jareth corrected himself carelessly, and as always, incorrectly. "Now, are you really going to sit around here doing nothing, while that girl faces all the dangers of my Labyrinth in order to find you?"
Still taking steps back, now from some grasp of self preservation that was all in instinct, rather than anything that was, at the moment, even remotely resembling common sense. "I don't know where she is…" He groaned, shaking his head as he backed away. "I'd never find her!"
"Hmm." Again, that mild feign of surprise. "And here I thought you knew my labyrinth like the back of your hand."
"I did." Hoggle grumbled softly, under his throat. "Before you went and changed everything…"
Jareth gave him a short, bemused glance, like they both knew that this was just pathetic excuse-making now… "Hodge-podge…" He began, again, as impatiently as ever-
Only to be cut off by Hoggle, who had, at this point, just had enough. And this? This was the straw that pushed him too far. "Hoggle!" He yelled, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration, and stomping one foot, hard. "It's Hoggle! Hog-gle!" A growl, and a sense of utter exasperation, as, for a moment at least, he completely forgot his fear, muttering, "You didn't used to get my name wrong…"
Jareth smirked… And as unpleasant as the expression was, it was still the first genuine one yet he'd offered to the smaller man. "Yes," He agreed, in a sort of drawn out humor, suddenly looking as languid as a stretching cat, without so much as moving a finger, "But then I saw how delightfully frustrated it made you when dear Sarah did it…" That smirk again. "And, well. I just couldn't resist."
The words took all of ten seconds to trickle past Hoggle's anger fueled defenses…And another five to actually register as what the goblin king was actually saying. When they did though, his mouth fell open, and for another thirty seconds, he just stared. "You- You mean," He demanded at last, a little shakily, "All this time, you been doing it… on purpose?" As if he just couldn't understand why anyone would…
Jareth sigh, clearly hard-pressed by all these little annoyances. "It certainly took you long enough to figure out, Hog-wart." He murmured, just a little crossly, as he finally pulled away from the tree that had been bearing his weight… The strained sapling returning, in a sort of slow motion curl, to its previous position.
"Hog-" The dwarf caught himself correcting, from habit, and grimacing, when he realized the pointlessness of it. "Damn it…"
"Anyway, it stopped being entertaining years ago." He finished, sort of like that was his fault. This was followed by a deep breath as, visibly, the goblin king turned his mind from petty head-games, to far more important ones. "Now," He mused, matter-of-factly, suddenly all seriousness. "What if I help you… find the girl?"
Hoggle blinked in surprise. "You'd do that?" He demanded in surprise, only to, very quickly, be hit with a good dose of common sense. This was Jareth they were talking about, after all. The man could make fruit dangerous, for goodness sake. "Why." It wasn't a question though, so much as a statement of the obvious… He wasn't willing to be Jareth's tool anymore.
"Well, for my own reasons, obviously." Jareth assured him calmly, smiling…An expression that somehow managed to promise even more trouble than his usual, crueler expressions. "I know you want to find her… don't try my patience."
The dwarf didn't budge, still frowning, his eyes as serious as they'd ever been. "Not gonna, hurt the little lady, this time?" He pressed at last, suddenly giving the impression of a man far stronger than he'd ever considered himself to be. This time, he wasn't letting Sarah down, wasn't betraying her, no matter what that damn Jareth did to him… "I'm not gonna do nuthin if it's gonna hurt her."
"Oh please…" Jareth sighed, only to pause, and consider the smaller man again, with a bit more of a calculating eye this time. "No, wait. You're serious, aren't you? You would really risk disobeying me…"
"That's right." Hoggle said simply, somehow managing to look determined, even as he shuffled from foot to foot nervously, and wrung his hands for the goblin king to see. "You gotta promise… You gotta promise me you ain't gonna hurt her… Or I ain't doing nothing you say!"
For a long, long moment, there was silence, as the two, ridiculously mismatched in power, squared off, matched, for once, in stubbornness. And if the goblin king didn't need him, he had no doubt he'd already be being spirited off to one of those nasty little places in the Labyrinth that made oubliettes look pretty… But for reasons he didn't know himself, and sure as heck wasn't going to question… The goblin king needed him for something. When it was done though…
Something in the Jareth shifted, ever so slowly, and his smile returned. That one that wasn't a smirk. The one that suggested that this was simply no longer for fun… But there was a decided sense, well, of acknowledgement. "Very well then, Hoggle… I give you my word. I intend no harm to your precious Sarah."
Hoggle paused, for two reasons… One, because for the first time in some four years, the goblin king had actually called him by his real name… And two, because somehow, he wasn't sure just how yet, he'd actually gotten what he wanted from the intimidating man. "You… you mean it?" He murmured at last, slowly, like he wasn't quite willing to believe it yet himself. "You- you really promise?"
"Yes, yes, I promise!" Whatever concession he'd just agreed to though, he was clearly in no mood to make any more, and any concept of patience was quickly vanishing from his behavior. "Now, do you want to find the little mortal wretch, or not?"
…And he almost objected, almost said that Sarah was no… But then he saw the look in Jareth's eyes, and reminded himself, very quickly, that this was not a man to argue trivialities with. "Y- yes, of course I do." He agreed hastily instead, before pausing, and with a little frown, pressing, hesitantly. "How… how do I do it?"
"Hmph." Seeming more than a little annoyed by the way things had gone, Jareth reached into his pocket, and pulled out a fine, faded handkerchief, pale yellow, and probably older than the two of them combined. "You'll use this." He instructed, a bit grudgingly, holding out the bit of cloth to his servant. When Hoggle started to take it, he added, as if this should be obvious, "It's a map. A very old one." And with a stern point, "Lose it, and it will be your head, am I understood?"
Hoggle blinked, and looked up at Jareth in surprise… As many threats as the goblin king offered his subjects on a day to day basis, he rarely, if ever, opted for death as a punishment. If fact, Hoggle had never heard of him doing it before… Not once, in the six hundred years he ruled the Underground… The dwarf looked at the 'map,' but it just seemed to be an outline of a maze, on a faded bit of fabric… Nothing worth dying for.
"Do you understand, Hog's-Brain?" Jareth pressed, leaning very close into the smaller man's space, and eliciting a hasty reassurance from him that, yes, he understood. "Good." Jareth drew back, only slowly, as if reluctant to surrender the hold he had over his servant. "You'll do well to see that it's back in my possession, before that girl finds her way home."
"Um, yes, your majesty." Hoggle agreed, still seeing nothing special about it, but unwilling to risk Jareth's anger in saying so. "I understand, your majesty. I'll be going right now, your majesty." Bowing, all the way back, as he moved away from the goblin king…
"Hoggle?" A sound, almost of just being too weary to summon a proper threat.
"Y-yes, your majesty?"
Jareth hooked his thumb over his shoulder. "That way, Hoggle?"
Hoggle glanced at the map in his hands… Which he couldn't make heads or tails of, and nodded enthusiastically, almost stumbling over his feet as he headed in that direction as well… Only to pause, like he was forgetting something, and stare at Jareth for a moment, trying to remember what it was.
"What is it?" Jareth demanded, beginning to grow impatient again.
"Oh! Uh… Um…" His eyes cast around, looking for the reason he'd stopped, and finally landed on a pair of small black eyes, still watching, silently, from the shadows. Well, it helped to know that Ludo was as big a coward as he was, where Jareth was concerned… "Come on then, she'll want to see you too!"
A pause, as serious, gentle eyes considered him, then Jareth, who smirked, and made a careless, 'after you,' gesture, clearly waiting for them both to get the hell out of his presence. Slowly, the large creature turned after Hoggle, deliberately no longer looking in the direction of the goblin king, and lumbered, deliberately, towards his smaller friend. "Ludo. Come." He agreed, not exactly reluctantly… But as if he hadn't quite figured out what was going on yet.
Hoggle shook his head, and limped away, not looking back to see if the bigger fellow was following… And Jareth pinched the place between his eyes, muttered something below his breath about 'another eternity enduring numbskulls, thanks to that miserable girl…'
And for once, didn't disappear from view dramatically, but just tipped his head back, and watched the sky, silent.
