A/N:
And in my time of Finals
David Bowie comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
BANANANA GET ME OUT OF HERE!
The door to his study swung open and four of the people Jareth least wanted to see entered the room. He took a split second to consider his options. It was too late to run, they'd already seen him, same problem with an invisibility spell. He was trapped. He sighed in defeat and stood up.
"Mother, Father, Uncle Fezzik, Uncle Inigo, what an...unexpected...surprise."
"Jareth, my boy!" his father said, stepping forward. "What's been going on here? The Labyrinth surged with power a few days ago. Your mother felt it, even in retirement."
"Nothing in particular, Father." Jareth said, picking up one of the pieces of paper and considering it, "we had a Runner in the last few days, perhaps that was it."
"Jareth," his mother said, walking over and taking the paper from his hand. "I was the Queen of the Labyrinth for centuries, I know what a Runner feels like. Besides, why would I feel this Runner when I haven't felt any other the others since we abdicated?"
"Perhaps this Runner won," suggested Inigo. Jareth raised his eyebrow at his uncle, who shrugged unabashedly. "It was only a suggestion."
"Or perhaps the Champion had returned!" Fezzik added. Jareth froze, only for a moment, but long enough for his parents to notice. His father leaned over the desk.
"The Champion returned?" he asked, scrutinizing his son's reaction.
"How? When?" asked his mother. Jareth looked at the firm, curious gazes of the people surrounding his desk, and sighed. There was no hiding it now. He knew he'd have to tell his family what happened eventually, but he had hoped he would have more time, be more sure of his relationship with Sarah. True, she had accepted the horse and would be returning to learn to ride, but she said she needed more space to think after the Runner and had gotten very mad at him after the whole Emrys debacle, though she had gotten even more mad when she had learned that Emrys had been trying to protect her from him. She understood his interference a little more once she knew what had motivated it. Still, he would have to be careful of his protective tendencies around her. Not that he really thought she needed it, not the Champion of the Labyrinth.
That thought brought him back to the here and now where his parents and uncles were looking at him. He stood.
"This is a rather long story, perhaps we should find somewhere more comfortable to sit."
"The yellow parlour?" suggested Inigo, and as one, they all transported themselves there.
In this room there were several comfortable couches and armchairs. It was a fairly comfortable place and Jareth would often retire here with his guests after a dinner party. Jareth sprawled on his usual armchair as his parents took one couch, Uncle Fezzik another and Uncle Inigo stood behind it. Jareth looked about, took in a deep breath and began.
"It all started when a wish was made about the Champion of the Labyrinth, Sarah Williams, about a month ago," he said, and proceeded to tell his family what had happened in the last month, leaving out Klio's threats and what had caused them. He eventually came to the present moment, talking about their most recent fight and his frustration with her denial of the ways of the Trial of the Labyrinth.
"But," Uncle Inigo said, looking confused, "what's said is said."
"But, Inigo," pointed out Fezzik, "she is She-Who-Can-Make-The-Words-Unsaid, so it is not true for her."
Inigo nodded. "I see what you mean."
"Have you tried granting her wishes?" suggested his mother. "It worked for your father."
"She doesn't make wishes anymore. Not since the death of her father. I can hardly grant wishes she refuses to make." Jareth groaned, burying his head in his hands. "Nor canI trap her here through spell or enticements or even agreements as I have no power over her."
His parents exchanged a look, remembering the man who had tried to keep his mother captive, and the lengths she had been willing to go to escape him. His father spoke. "Would you trap her here if you could?."
Jareth's anger seemed to collapse in, leaving him feeling a little hollow. "No," he said, quietly but firmly, "I wouldn't. Even if I could, I wouldn't."
His mother smiled, proud of her boy. His father, however, took the opportunity to make things that much worse for his son.
"So!" he asked. "When do we get to meet this young woman?"
"It would be interesting to see what about her fascinates you," Inigo added, remembering a young Fae who, while he had had many relationships over the years, hadn't seemed to find the love his parents had or that depth of feeling—until now, until this mysterious Champion of the Labyrinth.
All of a sudden, Jareth sat very upright, feet firmly planted on the floor. "Not yet, I don't think. She's met Klio, but I think introducing her to—" He froze as he felt the magic in the air shift around him. Damn it, not now!
Sarah walked down the halls of her university lost in thought, heading slowly but surely towards the cafeteria. She'd waved her friends on after Celtic Studies so she could talk to Merlin. That had gone well enough. He'd promised to not try to interfere with her affairs if she promised to come to him for help if she needed it. They'd also made a date for coffee over Easter. Sarah was very excited to hear some of the stories of what he'd experienced in the past millennium and a half. He'd seemed a little relieved to actually be able to talk to someone about it. It seemed that while Arthur did believe him in the end, he was taking a while to process it all, and Merlin didn't want to overload him with too much too soon. Sarah was seriously starting to question whether or not anyone she knew didn't have a connection the the Underground somehow. She was starting to think the answer was no. Well at least her friend's significant others were normal. Or at least, as far as she knew Jet and Suki had no connection.
Speaking of Jet, Sarah rounded the corner and saw Jet and Katara pretty much making out in the hall. Did they really have to do that in public?
'Ugh,' Sarah thought to herself. 'I really wish I didn't have to see this.'
Sarah felt a tug in her gut and had just enough time to think "Oh sh—" before the magic transported her. When the colours and sound settled, Sarah found herself in the Underground, specifically, in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. That was rather where she'd suspected she'd be, what with the Labyrinth's interference. She knew it was the Labyrinth's work, because while she hadn't wanted to see that, the Labyrinth would not have been her first choice of other places to go. Not with the smell of food wafting up the corridor from the caf. 'Damn it Labyrinth,' Sarah thought viciously, hoping that the Labyrinth would pick up on these thoughts as well. 'Those were so not the right words!'
Sarah turned around and took in the sight before her. There was a man, with black, wavy, shoulder length hair, with twin scars on his cheek who was looking at her suspiciously, his sword drawn and pointed at her. Behind him was—Was that a Giant? Well, he was huge, even if he was purely Fae. Then on another couch there was a beautiful woman and man who bore something of a resemblance to Jareth. The woman was dressed in a perfect pale blue dress, her wavy golden hair falling down her back. The man was dressed entirely in black, a looser shirt accompanied by— damn it, what was it with men in the Underground and tight pants? Finally, she looked at Jareth, who was dead white, staring at her with wide eyes and shaking his head, slowly, in horrified disbelief.
"Jareth," she said, taking a step forward. The Man with the Sword moved between them.
"Do you have six fingers on your right hand?" he asked. Everyone in the room blinked and gave the man a strange look.
"Uncle," Jareth said, giving the man—his uncle?—a look. "You killed Count Rugen before I was even born." The Man with the Sword looked a little sheepish, sheathed his sword and bowed with his arms a little out from his body.
"I apologize. Old habits die hard."
"Who are you?" the woman said, standing up and giving Sarah the once over.
"Jareth...?" Sarah said to the only person in the room she recognized. He looked around the room, took a deep breath, suppressing the panic in his eyes, and stood.
"Sarah, allow me to introduce my Uncle: Lord Inigo Montoya, my Uncle: Lord Fezzik, my mother: Her Royal Highness Buttercup, former Queen of the Labyrinth and former Lady of the Goblins and my Father: His Royal Highness Wesley, former King of the Goblins and former Lord of the Labyrinth, as well as former Dread Pirate Roberts." The man—Jareth's father?—gave him a look."Mother, Father, Uncle Fezzik, Uncle Inigo, I'd like you to meet the Champion of the Labyrinth, She-Who-Should-Be-Queen, Sarah Williams."
Sarah blinked and looked more carefully. She could see echoes of his features in his parents' faces, and he had their hair, and a possible similarity to Inigo in the hollow cheeks, but nothing in Fezzik's face was present in Jareth's. For that matter, neither Fezzik nor Inigo looked anything like Buttercup or Wesley.
Buttercup came forward and took Sarah's hands.
"It's very nice to finally meet you, Sarah," she said, smiling at her and giving her hands a squeeze. "Jareth was just telling us about you." Sarah shot Jareth a look. He refused to make eye
contact. "Come, sit with us."
"Yes, we want to hear more about the lady who could beat our Jareth," said Lord Fezzik, patting the couch beside him. Sarah glanced at the couch, at Jareth, at the giant and his other relatives, trying to make up her mind. Unfortunately, her stomach chose that moment to growl very loudly, making it very clear that it was not pleased that she'd skipped breakfast to go over the layout of the fair with Professor Tania and desperately wanted to be fed now. Her back-brain point out that there was a very attractive goblin king present, and she really wouldn't mind getting a taste of him again, even if that didn't count as real nourishment...except possibly for her hormones. The only trouble would be getting the relatives out of the way. She didn't think she was up to transporting multiple people yet and besides, pouncing took energy. Jareth stood and walked over to her.
"Perhaps we can discuss this over lunch?" he suggested, offering her his arm. "I'll escort Sarah to the dinning room, shall I meet all of you there?" He kept his voice bland and polite and his family nodded and disappeared. He whirled to face Sarah, mask gone and face slightly panicky.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed.
"It seems the Labyrinth wants me here," she defended herself, taking a measured step away. "I saw Katara and Jet kissing and thought that I wi— that I really didn't want to see it and the next thing I knew I was here." Sarah was starting to use magic? Unintentionally? How? Jareth started swearing low and vehemently, calling the Labyrinth all the names he could think of and then some. Sarah was untrained, she shouldn't be using magic without supervision in the Aboveground where anything could go wrong or she could be noticed.
"What language is that?" she asked, her brows pulling down in a frown. "I don't understand it."
"Elvish," he said, realizing a little late that swearing in another language wouldn't necessarily be more decent if the person he was swearing in front of had the gift of tongues. His back-brain pointed out that that wasn't the only gift of tongues Sarah had. He smirked to himself.
"I understand Fae well enough, why wouldn't I understand this..." she trailed off. Jareth offered her his arm and she took it as he started to walk her towards the dining hall.
"Perhaps you've lost your ability to speak in tongues?" he offered as they strolled.
"Nope," Sarah replied, her casual syntax sounding odd in the Fae tongue. "I can still understand you clear as day."
"What about Goblin, understand that?"
"Yep, that too."
Jareth threw another string of syllables at her that went in one ear and continued to make no sense. She shook her head. He tried another language, this one sounding rather like gargling pebbles. Again, Sarah shook her head, starting to get impatient with the testing of her magical ear when they had more important things to worry about. For example: Jareth's family waiting to meet her properly just a few hallways away. "You know," her back-brain pointed out, "we still have the closet plan from that dinner with Klio. Maybe now's the time to pull it out." Sarah dismissed the thought, despite her body's protestation. She had survived, even enjoyed, the dinner then, she could make it through this lunch. ...Probably.
'At least now I know how to get out of there with magic if things manage to go spectacularly wrong.' She tried to think of the positive side of things.
"So," Sarah said, as she started to recognize parts of the of the decor and realized they were coming to the end of the relative-less reprieve. "Anything I should know about your family before I head in there?" Jareth thought for a moment.
"Don't mention ROUSes, Prince Humperdinck or Count Rugen," he said finally, as they approached, "And you should be fine. "
"What the hell is an ROUS?" Sarah asked as Jareth pushed open the door.
"Telling her about the Rodents of Unusual Size?" Former King Wesley asked his son as they came into the room. The four of them had already found their seats, leaving the spot at the head of the table and the seat to the honoured right free. "You'll want to be wary of those, they've moved out of the swamp and into the Labyrinth proper since Jareth made the bog less dangerous and more... smelly." Sarah shuddered at the memory of the sheer horrifying nature of that smell.
"The Bog wasn't always smelly?" Sarah said taking her seat.
"No," Jareth's father continued. "Not always, back in my time it was the Fire Swamp. Filled with ROUSes, flame spurts and quicksand. Not too dangerous if you knew how to get around." He reached over and gripped Former Queen Buttercup's hand. They shared a smile.
"As we found out as we fled Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen," the Former Queen finished off. Sarah glanced at Jareth, at the look the two were sharing, and decided that this was too good a story to pass up, despite Jareth's warnings.
"Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen?" she asked, keeping her tone polite and innocent. Jareth shot her a look and Sarah felt a small kick on her ankle.
"What," Former King Westly cried amiably, "Has Jareth never told you this story?"
"It's not the sort of thing that has come up," Jareth ground out through a large smile. While he did love the story, he really didn't think Sarah needed an example of how true love was supposed to work, as their story bore very little resemblance. He didn't want to draw her attention to this fact, and certainly didn't need his parents to do so.
"What story?" Sarah latched on quickly. She was already a good chunk of the way through the book of stories Sir Didymus had made for her, and was always eager to add to her collection.
"It's the story of how Wesley and I fell in love," Former Queen Buttercup said, smiling nostalgically. Sarah almost winced. The last thing she needed right now was a love story. She'd been skipping over some of those in the Book of Tales. Her own love life right now was a little too... her eyes darted to Jareth and away...complicated, to deal with love stories right now. However, she had asked, and it would let her eat as they talked. The servants had just finished setting all the places and were going to start bringing in food any moment now. "You see," Jareth's mother continued as her son settled comfortably in his chair, as a man who knew there was a long story coming, and started to sip his wine. "I was raised on a farmstead, in the country of Florin."
Sarah had planned to not pay that close attention throughout, mostly act attentive and nod and make the right noises when called on. However, she found herself quickly drawn in. It was a story of fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, True Love, miracles... It was no wonder the people who had this kind of story had raised Jareth. It also explained why Jareth's uncles did not look like anyone else in the family. It was a beautiful story and Sarah couldn't help but notice the contented look on Jareth's face as he listened. A small, soft smile played around his lips and eyes. The story traded around, different parts being told by different members: Former Queen Buttercup describing her time in the Castle with the Git Prince Humperdinck, Former King Wesley describing his being called back to the Goblin Kingdom to deal with an emergency and then hearing of the engagement, Lord Inigo finally getting revenge on his father's murderer and Lord Fezzik... well, he helped out a lot. It seemed he was a very loyal friend.
"And then we all lived happily ever after," Former Queen Buttercup said, giving her husband such an intense look of love that Sarah looked away, feeling she was intruding on their privacy.
"At least, until little Jareth was born," Lord Inigo pointed out noticing Sarah's discomfort at his old friends' extremely close relationship. Sarah couldn't quite stifle the giggle at the Goblin King being referred to as 'Little Jareth'. Jareth managed to glare at her and his uncle simultaneously, despite them being on opposite sides of the table.
"True enough," Wesley said with a laugh, turning away from his True Love. "Speaking of Jareth," Jareth sat up, wondering where his father could be going with this. "Why have you rejected him? He's an intelligent, cunning, attractive young Fae." Sarah wondered how old most Fae were to consider over 2 millenia young.
"He has a wonderful sense of humour," added Lord Fezzik. Jareth was managing to both preen and look rather embarrassed.
"He is a wonderful musician and singer, not to mention a great swordsman," was Lord Inigo's contribution. Sarah smirked very slightly as her back-brain came up with another meaning for 'great swordsman', if one was thinking symbolically. After Sunday, she really wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he were one.
"And I've never heard any of the ladies of the court complain about him as a lover," Jareth's mother added.
Sarah choked on the water she'd been sipping and Jareth shot upright in worry, as did everyone else at the table, as Sarah tried to rid her lungs of liquid.
"I'm sorry," Buttercup said, leaning forward in concern and glancing at her son. "Did I say something wrong?"
Sarah shook her head as her coughing jag died down. "No," she said very croakily, "No, nothing wrong, it's just... Well, it's not exactly normal for a man's family, or well, at least the older generation, to either know or say that kind of thing. At least, it's not where I come from!" she managed. The Fae in the room considered this statement quizzically.
Former King Wesley waved at her. "Fezzik, if you would." The giant who sat next to her turned in her direction.
"If you give me your hand, Lady Sarah," Sarah glanced at him, and at Jareth, who had buried his head in his hands.
"Fezzik was trained by Ner'da herself," Former King Wesley explained. Trusting in Ner'da's teachings, Sarah reached out and placed her hand in his. She felt his magic poking at her insides, seeing if this or that was still in place. She then felt it withdraw. It was a little more invasive than when Ner'da had been checking her for poisoning. She wondered if that was because he was Fae or simply a worse healer. He patted her hand with his massive one.
"You should be fine," he said, sitting back in his chair. Inigo leaned forward in his.
"What is it, though," he said, brows drawing down, "that makes you refuse him?"
'Well,' Sarah thought. Really, it was a matter of where to start. She considered Jareth and he looked at her in the eye, curious about what her reply would be. "There was the whole taking my baby brother away, taking other well-loved children from their homes," his eyes hardened. Sarah blazed on, regardless. "Setting the cleaners on me, the whole Bog of Eternal Stench thing, the giant robot he tried to kill me with, setting the whole goblin army on me and not to mention the the mind-altering peach!" Her voice had been rising and getting more and more accusatory with each one.
"That's hardly very sportsman like," interjected Fezzik. Jareth raised his eyebrow at his uncle's interjection, not breaking eye contact with Sarah. Sarah made an effort to mitigate her anger in front of his parents, remembering all the kindnesses he'd done her more recently. Reading to Toby to put him to sleep. Healing Karen when she was sick, saving Karen's life, helping her with her Celtic studies, even holding her as she cried...
"Then he disappeared on me..." Her voice trailed off and she looked away from eyes that were suddenly veiled. "Besides," she said, picking up her glass to take a drink. "He's never really asked me."
"What?" he hissed and Sarah's eyes were drawn back to him. She hadn't seen him this angry since she'd called the Labyrinth a piece of cake. "I asked you and you turned me down with your pretty little speech." His eyes blazed as he spat the words. "'You have no power over me' and never calling me back into your life again unless you truly needed something was a very clear rejection to what I was offering."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Sarah cried back, a little defensive, but just as passionate.
"I offered you everything!" they both seemed to have forgotten their attentive audience. Something in him seemed to break and Sarah's breath caught in her throat to see it. "'Fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave...'" His eyes held such pain that Sarah could barely breathe.
She had never remembered what Jareth had told her at the end of her Run. "Is that what you said to me?" she whispered, eyes searching. He paused, all anger falling away at the sincere curiosity of her tone. He blinked at her, owlishly.
"You don't remember?"
"Jareth," Sarah said, fondly exasperated. "I wasn't listening to a word you said, I was trying to remember the line that would get me Toby back." Then the implications started kicking in. "Wait a minute," Sarah said, drawing back. "Were you trying to trap me down here even then?"
"Even then? I was not trying to trap you. I wanted to be with you, Sarah. I was offering you everything!"
"Everything? What you were offering was a freaking abusive, paedophilic relationship! Damn it, Jareth! I was fifteen. Do you normally try to keep children so old? And what the hell kind of deal is fear you, love you and do as you say?" Sarah was shaking her head in disbelief, but her eyes stayed fixed on him, fierce through the tears that were starting to well there.
For months after she'd defeated the Labyrinth, she'd been terrified that Jareth would come back into her life and make her pay for defying him and getting Toby back. Nothing her friends could say or knowledge that that wasn't the way stories worked could stop her fear. When her first boyfriend had made her feel even a little trapped she'd left the relationship as quickly as she could, barely stopping to say bye on the way out. That underlying terror of being trapped had faded over time, but never completely left.
It had come back full force last year after she wished someone would save her step-mother. She knew she would be placing herself in possible danger, that he might finally come and collect, but she couldn't leave Toby without a mother to care for him, no matter what the cost. That night, she had hugged Toby tightly and told him she loved him more than anything, put on comfortable clothing, packed a bag of essentials, grabbed the cast iron frying-pan Karen had since thrown out, and sat up, waiting for him to arrive. She suspected if he came, she wouldn't be able to over-power him, but she was damn sure she was going to try. At some point in the night, she'd drifted off to sleep, dreaming fitful nightmares in which he used his position of power over her to do terrible things to her and make her do... Then morning had come and she'd been woken by Toby asking her why she was sleeping in a chair and why did she have the frying pan and could they go see Mommy today. She'd held him close, glad to have escaped another time, or so she thought.
And then this year, when she'd woken up in his goddamn bed and he'd done what he could and had sent her back. Then done nothing to gain power over her in any of the time they'd been together. He'd made her believe that it was her he wanted. Not some point in their struggle for power. Now, to know her nightmares were true—"You didn't want me for a partner. You wanted me for a conquest. A subservient. A fucking submissive whore—"
"Sarah!" he snapped, trying to break into her flow, but she wasn't about to stop. The horrible implications just kept hitting her.
"—who you could just throw away when you had used, and keep around through threats in case you 'needed' her later. Just another servant. You never wanted me. You proved that well enough in the damn peach dream. You just wanted to toy with me. Humiliate me publicly. Use me! Prove that you won some damn contest and that no one could really beat you. You wanted to tear me down. Destroy me!" She whipped the tears angrily away.
"Sarah," Jareth got out, reaching toward Sarah. She jerked away from him and he pulled his arm back to his side. "I never—"
"Enough!" Former King Wesley's sharp voice cut through the tension that had been building. "Enough," he said more quietly as neither of the would be them first to break eye contact. "Jareth, perhaps we should talk. Buttercup?"
"Sarah, perhaps you'd like to take a walk in the gardens? I think there are some things we should talk about." Sarah looked at the woman and nodded.
"I wish I was in the Gardens of the Castle beyond the Goblin City." And Sarah disappeared. Buttercup sighed, gave her son a look, and disappeared as well.
Jareth looked at his male relatives and straightened his posture, shuttering away all his emotions. "I had not meant to trap her here," he said looking them each in eye in turn. "Not then and not now." His father sighed and leaned back in his seat.
"I know, Jareth, and so do you, but obviously she doesn't. Why?"
Jareth looked at his father through the curtain of his hair and sighed. "I'm really not sure." He straightened. "But there is someone who I think might be able to help me understand. I'll return when I can. Call me back before Sarah leaves."
The three men who had been through hell and high water together looked at each other.
"Maybe he won't mess up too badly," Inigo offered.
"That's not a very nice thing to say," complained Fezzik.
"You always were the optimist," Wesley replied, shaking his head. He wondered if it was fated for the love-lives of all of the men in his family to be so interesting. He rather hoped that wouldn't be the case.
A/N:Man, I really DO enjoy adding verses to this fic. And this should answer any question about what "the pain" Jareth threatened his Goblins with if they sang Happy Birthday. If there is anyone who isn't familiar with this verse, GO RECTIFY THIS SITUATION NOW! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS NERDY!
Also, I think there is nothing wrong with being a prostitute or other form of sex worker. I used whore because it's very strong language and Sarah is feeling VERY strongly right now.
Ah, I've left our two love birds (are there any really crotchety, stubborn birds that would describe these two? Love Chickens? ACK! I'M SORRY GOBLIN KING, I'M SORRY GOBLIN KING! PLEASE DON'T BOG ME! SARAH HELP!) *Hits the play theme song button and goes and hides in an oubliette till Jareth forgets he's mad at me*
*Sticks head out cautiously and whispers*
Please leave me your thoughts and tune in (hopefully) next week!And if the Goblin King asks YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ME! *Ducks for cover*