AN: GOOD MORNING!!!! and that's without coffee. But the water's on the boil and the grounds are in the French Press, so I'm set! Good night's (and a bit of afternoon's) sleep, nice hot shower, a special relationship, an A in a really difficult class...Ah life is good. Knock on wood. Hey, maybe I'll be a poet! Nawww...I'll leave that to the talents. Well, today is manily gonna be Hoggle's background, so most of this is my own. But again, many of the situations, characters, settings, etc. DO NOT BELONG TO ME!!! I keep forgetting to put that down, but it is true. No mistaking this fact, please. It would suck to be sued.
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Hoggle closed his eyes, searching within his mind for where to start his tale. There were so many beginnings, it was hard to choose. Sarah cleared her throat impatiently. Hoggle's eyes snapped open and he knew exactly how to begin.
"My brother and I were never close," he started, "even though we were twins...are twins, I suppose, which is a rare occurance for the fae. I'm the elder of us two, and as such was destined to inherit the throne. Jareth, of course, didn't like that. Even back when we were...gods, only three-hundred years old-"
"Three-hundred years old?!" Sarah shrieked, "How old are you now?" Hoggle's eyes narrowed.
"Now I am two-thousand thirty-seven, and so is Jareth. In human years that would be...about twenty-three." Hoggle said, "We do die, but not for a long long time, especially the royals. Normal goblins tend to die after one milenium. Now pipe down and listen." Sarah was once more aware of her mouth hanging open and she closed it with an audible snap.
"I remember our twelve-hundredth birthday ball, which is a big coming of age ceremony, and how our father, Ledious proclaimed that I was certainly to be king. All of the fae court clapped and congratulated me. Even my mother-" Here Hoggle shuddered, "-though I could see fury in her eyes...they were blue, just like Jareth's eye. They were always the closer of the two, always plotting, scheming. I guess I just spent more time with Father than with mother, since father was teaching me how to be king. I don't know. But I truly loved them both."
"So why did you kill your father?" Sarah demanded.
"I DIDN'T KILL MY FATHER!!!!!" Hoggle bellowed, the words ripping out of his throat in a painful howl of misery and fury. "I Loved my father! It was..." He stopped and took a deep, shuddering breath. "Jareth. And Maerath. After the ball I never saw the two apart, and they were always whispering...whispering in the hallways, at supper, at balls. Never apart." Hoggle's eyes filled with tears. "Two-hundred years ago, I was pulled from my bed in the early hours by the guards, who led me to my father's chambers." His lower lip trembled and he seemed for a moment unable to continue. Sarah patted his shoulder akwardly. "My father...my father was lying in a pool of his own blood, my letter opener in his heart. Faerie blood is silver, did you know? I heard that human blood is red. Ledious's chest blended with the silver of my letter opener, and his eyes, so much like my own, were wide open. Jareth stood behind me, and told the councillers that the letter opener was mine and that he had seem me walking to father's room at night. I was accused of killing the King of the Underground, and was sentenced to die."
"But you're still here," Sarah said, amazed at Jareth and heartsick at what Hoggle had been forced to endure. Hoggle laughed bitterly.
"Oh, dear Jareth was merciful. He spared me my life, but cast me out of the royal court. I am no no more than the gatekeeper to the Labyrinth, and shall be thus until I die in eight or nine thousand years."
Sarah had an idea, very suddenly. "What if you just took back the throne? You have powers, I've seen them. Why not challenge Jareth?" Hoggle turned to her, his delicate eyebrows raised.
"Are you daft, Sarah? Jareth, as king, has sealed my powers. I can only use them when my emotions are at a peak, such as when you slapped me. That created extreme anger. The amulet Jareth wears about his neck is the true source of power, because the crystal in the center magnifies any emotion. He is all powerful, and he has control over all the goblins. He can do anything he wanted.": Hoggle dragged his eyes away from Sarah. "If he ordered me to kill you or...hurt you I would do it, and if he told me to enjoy it I would. Not willingly, but it would happen. There is no way I can clear my name," he finished solemnly. "If only you had gone home and left the child!" He wailed. Sarah started.
"Why? All I need to do is get to the castle and get Toby out," she said, bewildered.
"Don't you understand, Sarah? Even if you get Toby back, you will not be going home." Hoggle said softly, "Jareth won't allow it."
"Why not?" Sarah whispered.
"He needs you. You are the only one that he can marry. He brought you here as his bride, Sarah. He will not let you leave."
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Jareth watched in his crystal as Hoggle finished telling his side of the story, and watched as Sarah realized the true role she was to play in his kingdom. Now she knows, he thought, grinning. The baby squawled in the next corridor over and the grin became a frown of annoyance. He clutched at the amulet and concentrated on a beautiful, golden sound: Silence. After a moment, the noises stopped although the child continued to open and close his mouth.
It feels so good to be king.
AN: Okay. That actually took two days since I went over to a friend of mine's house and forgot how late it was, so I stayed. But after this chapter, it will probably get more dark and slightly more intense. Just to clear something up: I am writing this as I go along, and writing how I feel the plot would progress. If I think it might involve something a bit more...adult than in the original script, that's how I'm writing it, although I'm not going into specifics. So. Just to forewarn you. On a happier note: I get tomorrow off for President's day, so I might even write two chapters. Or I might just write one. Or three. WHO KNOWS?! Bye bye...
