Chapter 10
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Previously: "I have a better idea."
Intrigued by this girl since he had watched her start her challenge Jareth decided to humor her. "What kind of idea?" he asked.
"A new deal." The little girl replied. "You see, all my life I've believed in you. I wanted to come down an see the kingdom, an the goblins, an meet the ones who make this place so special. An now that I have I don't want to go back. Well, not forever. I really like it down here. The people are nicer than where I live. Can I take my sitter's place?" she asked.
Jareth was so shocked, so flabbergasted he physically had to take a step back. Taking someone's place!? He had never done it before. He had to make this girl see reason; that it was either defeat him or lose the sitter. There was no medium that could be reached.
"You do realize if you were to take her place you would be five years old forever right? You would become a part of the Underground; timeless for all eternity." Maybe he could intimidate her with big words, make her see the dangers of her thoughts.
"No, I didn't. But I don't think it matters. But if it means that much to you that I grow up maybe I don't have to stay right now. I still have so much to learn from up Above, things I don't think I could ever learn here, no offense to you." She said.
"So then what do you propose we do?"
"How about this; I'll take my sitter's place in the Underground the day my birthmother dies. That way, I'll have absolutely no ties to keep me there an I'll probably at a good place to stop aging." She reasoned for him.
He had to hand it to her; this girl had grown up enough in her petty little five years that she could see things he had never even thought possible. "You are making a deal with the devil little girl." he warned her. "A deal that I will hold you to. Are you prepared to bear the burden of eternity?" he asked, holding out his hand.
The little girl looked at it a moment before looking him straight in the eyes. "I will be when the time comes, but for now I think I'll enjoy being a normal kid for the first time in my life." She said taking his hand without breaking eye-contact.
He felt a flare of his magic shoot up his arm and into the girl. There, it was done; the deal had been struck, and he would hold her to it when the time came. "Very well child. I will send you and the girl home." He told her conjuring one last crystal.
"My home isn't there." The girl said as he dropped it. "It's here." Those were the words she had left him, and all the Underground with. Her home was with them, though she barely knew them. Sighing as he returned to his throne Jareth sent a few goblins to keep an eye on her over the years.
"You've done well my King." Sarah said coming to stand next to him as he sprawled out on his chair.
"One of the few things I've done well Sarah." He replied. "It will not be long until she is with us…"
"Yet every moment will feel like forever." Sarah finished, already feeling the emptiness created by the girl's absence.
"Well, it would only be forever Precious, that's not long at all." Jareth said, reaching out a hand to brush away the tears which had started falling down Sarah's cheeks.
"I miss her already." Sarah sobbed into his hand.
"We can always go and visit if you like." Jareth said conjuring a crystal with the girl's image held inside.
"Oh, Jareth!" Sarah said leaping into his arms.
And so it came to pass, the little girl went back Above; she lived her mortal life, always protected from danger by the goblins. During the day she was the sweet little girl people had always known her as; good at hiding her hurt from other with a cheerful mask. But at night, when the sitter would lock her in her room for the evening the little girl would set up her bed to look as though she was sleeping before going to the full-length mirror over by her closet and knocking on the glass three times. Upon the third knock, Hoggle would show up and hold out his hand. The little girl would take it, and the dwarf would pull her through to the Underground. They would end up in the castle and Sarah would show them all the wonders of the kingdom.
The little girl had been introduced to both Ludo and sir Didymus, who delighted her to no end. Ludo would call rocks and create structures for the little girl to play on. Didymus and Ambrosius would play the knight on his noble steed whilst the little girl would either play the damsel in distress or the fire-breathing dragon. By the time night fell in the kingdom Sarah would take the little girl back to the castle and feed her a much better dinner than anyone could get Above. And then they'd spend the remainder of the evening in the library, Sarah reading fairytales thought lost to time while she and the little girl sat by a fire or open window, depending on the season.
The few times the Goblin King could get away from making sure his goblins didn't kill themselves he's take charge of the little girl and they would pass the time with him showing her how to juggle crystals, taking her flying above the kingdom as a little fledgling owl, or he would gather the whole of the throne room in song and dance around with her; throwing her in the air and tossing her about to his subjects who -despite their slow and stupid behavior- always caught her with grace and ease.
The little girl loved spending time with Sarah and Jareth. She had even started calling them 'mommy' and 'daddy' for they had acted as the parents she had always deserved. Around the little girl and Sarah the Goblin King became a new person, still a devious trickster but loving and warm. A man instead of a monarch. When the clock struck the thirteenth hour every night the little girl would be asleep, lulled by one of the Underground's lullabies, and Sarah would go through the mirror portal and deposit the child in her bed, placing a kiss upon the little forehead before leaving once more.
Everyone delighted in the little girl, who often, just for amusement on weekends when the sitter had plans and the mother of the child left her all alone in the apartment, would just wander throughout the Labyrinth. Talking with the things that could talk back, climbing on the things that could be climbed, sliding down things that could be slid on; she was just a little kid down here and no one thought bad of her because of it.
Around a year after she had made the deal with the man she considered her father the little girl was wandering the great maze, as usual, when she came upon the Hedge garden. She liked to come here often since the Wise man and his hat always had something funny to tell her. It often made any bad day she had turn on its head almost instantly. However, today there was no wise-man and his wisecracking hat. She was all alone here. The little girl didn't mind, whenever she was here in the Underground she could be alone without ever feeling lonely; if she ever needed her friends they would always be just a thought away. This time around the little girl wanted to be by herself, she liked to think about things; most often the so-called 'advice' the wise-man gave her. Whenever he said something to her it seemed as though it was just nonsense at first, but it would only be later, in another situation, that it would make sense. Today she was pondering over something he'd told her just yesterday.
"Hello dear." The little girl heard a voice from behind her.
Turning, the little girl gave out a gasp at seeing someone else besides her here in the hedges. "I'm sorry," she apologized to the woman. "you startled me."
The woman gave her a warm smile. "I have been known to do that in my time."
"What are you doing here?" the little girl asked.
"I thought that would have been obvious; I'm here to see you." the woman replied.
The little girl tilted her head to the side, confused by the statement. "Who are you?" she asked.
The woman just kept smiling. "Now that's a good question. Who do you think I am?" she asked in response.
"Um..." the little girl didn't know how to answer that question. "I don't know. What's your name?"
"I don't believe I have one. I have an idea; why don't you give me a name. I bet you'll come up with something that fits. Go ahead." The woman encouraged.
The little girl looked at the woman for a few moments, trying to think of a name that fit. It had to be something special, because the little girl could tell the woman herself was special. She took in the woman's appearance. Silvery white hair, icy blue eyes, high swept brows, elven facial features, those same odd markings her father had, and a medieval period dress periwinkle in color. The little girl said the first thing that came to mind. "Magi."
The woman raised a brow. "Come again?" she asked.
"I said Magi." The little girl repeated. "That's what I'm calling you; Magi."
The woman's smile widened. "And why Magi?"
"Because you're magic."
"I do have abilities but-"
"No, that's not what I meant. I mean that you are magic. You're not human like me or mommy. You're not a goblin or a dwarf or a rock-caller. You're not Fae, like daddy. You're just magic, itself."
Magi chuckled. "How did you know?"
"I could feel it." The little girl replied.
Magi stood and walked to her. "I was right, you are perceptive. Kind-hearted, selfless, and intuitive. I knew I would be right in choosing you."
"Choosing me?" the little girl repeated. "For what?"
"I want you to become a part of me. A part of the Labyrinth itself." Magi replied sitting down on a stone bench and gesturing for the little girl to do likewise.
"What?"
"It's simple, I am magic; like you said. I am the manifestation of the Labyrinth. To make it simple I am the Labyrinth. Make sense so far?" the little girl nodded. "Good. Now, you my dear girl, are a human. You live the life expectancy of a human and though your magic has been fed by the Underground there is really nothing else that sets you apart from other humans. I want you to become a part of the Labyrinth itself, to become the body which carries the soul of the Labyrinth inside of it."
"Why?" the little girl asked from her seat next to Magi.
"Because, in your world, the one from which you came and were born into, the magic is dying. If it continues to do so eventually all ties with this world and that one will be severed permanently. You will never be able to go back Above. The problem with this is that the magic down here is too unstable by itself. It needs to expend magic into worlds with less of it or the Underground will collapse in on itself."
"So... The Underground needs to give some of its magic away to my world or else it could die?" the little girl clarified.
"Yes." Magi answered. "Without your world, this world cannot survive. I need to feed some of the magic from this world into yours or else this world as we now it will cease to exist."
"I see, but why can't you go Above and do it on your own?" the little girl asked.
"I can't." Magi replied. "I love this world and I don't want anything to happen to it, but unless I find someone who can travel between worlds the Underground will die."
"You can't leave the Underground?" the little girl gasped.
"I can't." Magi affirmed. "I'm trapped here; in this world, no matter how wonderful it is."
The wise-man's words of yesterday came back to the little girl. "'It will never truly matter what you do to it. No matter how you guild a cage, a cage it shall always remain'."
Magi nodded. "Truer words have never been spoken. Will you help me?"
The little girl looked at her. "I will," she said, grasping Magi's hand. "But why didn't you ask mommy for help?"
"Your mother has done enough. In all my years I have never seen Jareth so happy. And with you around his happiness will continue to grow." As she spoke Magi began to morph until she looked like an older, Fae version of the little girl. Turning transparent, she continued to speak. "You will accomplish great things for your home; both here and Above." And with that, Magi vanished. The little girl sat for a few more moments, before getting up and starting the trek to the castle.
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