Chapter Eight: The Debt.
Over a century and a half and he had never once stopped to think about what he would do with the children!
He idly drummed his fingers on the side of his throne while staring at the baby sitting on his lap. "I don't know what to do with you," he told the child frankly. The babe just gurgled at him. "I'm telling you because I want us to be clear on this fact later. I didn't plan this far ahead." The baby was ignoring him in favor of jerking the lace fringe at his right wrist. "I wouldn't have even involved you at all, but it was the easiest way to get back at your people for what they did to my lands. You should be thankful that your foolish mother has spared you from my wrath; I can't very well take revenge upon one of my own subjects, now can I?" He leaned further into his throne, thinking. "I would ask you what you'd like to have happen, but you obviously don't care as long as there's something for you to yank on," he said, while trying to wrestle his amulet out of the boy's grasp. "Keep doing that and you'll choke me," he grumbled after a particularly viscous jerk. "You wouldn't want to murder your King before you even got to know him, would you?" The child seemed completely unmoved. He sighed.
When he had felt things starting to change all those centuries ago he had never imagined himself being good-naturedly strangled on his own throne.
Sarah stared at him in amazement. He was drenched in pitch black and wine red velvet that was decadent and yet viciously male, over which was a heavy black cloak that had silver and blue stitching all throughout it. His skin stood out against the darkness of his clothing, nearly glowing with an inner luminescence. Jareth hadn't changed at all; everything about him was still pale and powerful. She looked down to where his leather encased hand still held her arm and furiously tried to think of what to say. It had to be meaningful, poignant.
"What do you mean business?" She cringed on the inside at the whine she could hear creeping into her voice. That wasn't exactly the line she had been going for, it sounded more petulant than commanding. Trying to redeem herself slightly, she added, "There's nothing to settle. I won, you lost. End of story."
"That story, perhaps. But this is a new one Sarah, and you owe me," he explained patiently.
"I don't owe you anything," she gaped at him, wondering what he was playing at. "Why can't you just leave well enough alone? This hardly seems dignified; you're just being a sore loser!" She tried tugging her arm out of his grasp.
"No one ever said I wasn't. I am a King, my dear, and unaccustomed to loosing," he tightened his grip slightly. "But that is beside the point. I am not acting out of some misguided sense of revenge; you need not worry about that."
Sarah braced her feet apart and tried pulling her arm back with the weight of her body. "Then what are you doing?" she panted out while distractedly deciding she had definitely pulled a muscle in her shoulder.
"Collecting debts," he stated simply. "Now stop that," he added, easily jerking her forward enough that she lost her footing.
She stumbled a bit, but caught herself before she crashed into him. "I already told you that I don't owe you anything," she glared and pulled her arm a few times more, just to spite him.
"I beg to differ." Jareth looked as though he were restraining himself from rolling his eyes at her. "Thirteen hours," he stated, tightening his grip a little more.
Sarah hesitated then finally asked, "What?" Was he telling her to run the Labyrinth once more? Sure she had won last time, but now that she had a few extra years behind her and a fresh view of those memories she could see it had more to do with luck than skill. She wasn't sure if she could do it again, especially not without that burning need she'd had to rescue Toby. If she hadn't had that incentive the first time she was fairly certain she would have failed miserably. For one panicked moment she feared that he had kidnapped her little brother again.
"I can see the wheels turning behind those delightful eyes of yours, but you can stop worrying. All I ask for is thirteen hours; no more, no less." His voice was smooth and measured, neither reassuring nor terrifying.
If it was really that simple then why was his grip still tightening? Confused, Sarah dared a glance at his eyes. He seemed to be studying her, calculating. Something else was going on here, she just couldn't fathom at what. With a sinking feeling she asked him to elaborate, "I still don't understand."
Jareth sighed, looking as though he'd love to be pacing if it weren't for the fact that she would have to pace with him or have her arm pulled out of joint. "When you wished your brother away I gave you the chance to win him back. I didn't have to Sarah, but I enjoy playing the game that way, so I did. I gave you thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth and you capitalized on that time to defeat me." His tone softened slightly, "I bare you no ill will. You were an excellent challenge, far greater than I anticipated or I would not have given you such a long limit. I did not have to extend so much time for you, but I did. Well, I want that time back now," he was looking her straight in the eyes with an intensity that frightened her and strengthened her opinion that she was missing something very important.
"Wait! I didn't use all that time; you took a good number of those hours away, remember?" If she hadn't been bargaining with him face to face she would have smiled at his audacity to ask back hours that had never been spent.
"Ah, but you did. Some of those hours might have been spent faster than others, but you were still there when they went passed," he laughed at her expression of outrage.
"That's not fair!" she shouted.
He laughed again. "It wasn't fair that I lost either, so consider us even."
He had considered turning the boy into a goblin but decided against it for the time being. Goblins multiplied like rabbits, they certainly didn't need any help from him. If a time came when the population was straining then perhaps he would, but at the moment it didn't really seem necessary.
He sighed; this was proving to be more trouble than he had anticipated. It wasn't like he could just leave the babe on its own; human babies were just as defenseless as Fae children at that stage in development. There weren't exactly any other humans he could give the child to, and he doubted any of the Fae would want a son of the race that had killed their fathers. "We'll just have to build you your own little colony, now won't we," he whispered to the sleeping boy. "I'll have to make sure the next ones I take are older. We'll need some responsible humans to look after you little ones." The child rolled over in his sleep. Quietly the King observed him. "Will you be a Prince in this new land I give to you, or just a faceless villager?" he wondered aloud. "You are to be the first of many, boy. They will need guidance; will you give it to them?"
"How do you pay back an hour anyway? It's not like money; I don't have a wad of time sitting in the bottom of my purse," Sarah reasoned.
"Don't be stupid, Sarah. You spent my time, now I intend to spend yours," his expression was smooth, nearly emotionless, but she could see his cruel humor lurking in the depths of his eyes. "Thirteen hours, any time and any place I want."
"You're spreading this out?" she asked, horrified. Spending a straight thirteen hours with the Goblin King sounded bad, but not nearly as terrible as him being able to pop in whenever he felt like it. If he only spent a few minutes with her at a time it could take weeks to pay him back!
"I like to make the most of what I am given," he smiled.
"More like taking. Don't I get a say in this at all?" she demanded… or pleaded, depending on which side of the conversation you were on.
"The debtor usually doesn't, but I'm willing to be fair. I'll spare you in return for your brother," he waived carelessly.
"No!" Sarah shouted immediately.
"Well it's settled then: your time in return for the time that was taken from me," there was something altogether too triumphant about his smile.
"Like I have a choice," she muttered angrily. She didn't really. There were many things she would do to get out of an arrangement with Jareth, but sacrificing her brother was not one of them. And, damn the bastard, he knew it too! It had obviously been a trump card of some kind. Whatever he was planning he wanted to make sure that she was a part of it.
"Oh don't look so glum Sarah. You might not even see me for years," he soothed, finally releasing his hold on her arm.
She rubbed her bicep carefully, worried that there would be a hand shaped bruise there. "Really?" she perked up.
"Of course not," he scoffed.
"Bastard!" Sarah made a reach to slap his smirking face, but the snowscape around her was suddenly melting. Dimly she could hear him laughing at her.
The world dissolved and she suddenly found herself sitting at her vanity table again. Sarah blinked a few times, disoriented. She could still hear him laughing if she concentrated. Looking down she realized that she had the note clenched in her hand.
But it wasn't the same note anymore. Where once it had been pale and said only 'Remember', it was now dark, aged, and said in an ominous looking script, 'Until next time…'
A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay on this one; life got the better of me. Hopefully it won't happen again, but I won't make any promises if I don't know whether I can keep them. Also, I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter. Certainly wasn't my best work, but it will do for now. We're starting to get into the story proper here, so pay close attention because important things are happening (not that important things haven't already happened…). I hope you all liked the business that Jareth chose to settle. I don't think I've ever seen a story where he asked for his time back.
As always, please review!
Disclaimer: Just about everything here belongs to Henson Productions, Brian Froud, Terry Jones, or David Bowie. I really don't own much.
