A/N Own Nothing

Chapter 21 – Two Against One

Jareth woke up the next morning and jumped right out of bed. There was something very wrong and this time he was sure of it. He definitely felt fear coming from Kiara and he was sure that she needed him. He began to head out to find her when a small angry voice stopped him. "Jareth," Tia began, "If you go after that fairy I will leave you. I can't take being second any longer."

Her words hit Jareth's most vulnerable spot; he wasn't sure that he was strong enough to face another rejection. Slowly he walked away from the window and sat on the bed with his head in his hands. Tia smiled happily, "See things just being me and you will be so much better. It really isn't good for your image to be seen running around with some lowly creature; it's already bad enough you let the goblins roam the castle freely."

Jareth nodded his mind still on Kiara, however it didn't last very long because a knock at the door interrupted Tia's attempts at proving how much better she was. Rabz, the messenger goblin, came in and bowed deeply when he saw that Tia was in the room. "Your Highness, there is news from Prince Broderick."

"What news?" Jareth asked angrily. If it had something to do with his brother then it wasn't going to be good news.

"The prince has the Lady Kiara and wants to know why you haven't rescued her yet. He says that he has her outside of the woodland fairy area on the outside of the labyrinth."

Jareth immediately got up and headed out the window and this time Tia didn't stop him. She had enough of this; she packed up all of her bags leaving a note for Jareth that she was through with him and not to speak to her again unless the fairy was dead. Wasting no time Jareth flew as fast as his wings would take him to the woodland fairies territory. The old fairy was only too happy to point him in the right direction and many fairies sat up in the trees to watch what was going on.

Katrina also sat in a tree watching and wishing that she could do something about all of this. Her clan had decided to follow Prince Broderick's orders and capture the Queen when and if she ever came to them for help. They expected to have to wait a lot longer for her to fall into the trap, but no one was complaining. Katrina kept the egg safe and waited for an opportune moment to help if she could.

Jareth walked in and tried the best he could to hide the surprise that he felt. Never in all his years did he realize what his brother was capable of. Along the outside of the rune the elves had started a small fire that was growing larger with every minute with Kiara in the middle. Broderick and Vivian stood from their spots to greet Jareth and negotiate the fairy's release. Jareth barely even recognized Kiara until she looked up at him with her eyes begging for help. The fire was already hot and she was starting to lose consciousness from the heat and the pain.

"Broderick, what have you done?" Jareth asked and attempted to use his magic to put out the fire.

"Not so fast Jareth," Broderick said and together with his wife they were easily able to block any magic he used. "I think we should have a little trade, hmm? Your disgusting wife for your kingdom."

Jareth's eyes blazed angrily as the sky began to blacken. "Neither of you even like the labyrinth, why do you want it?"

Vivian smirked and answered, "Any kingdom is better than none at all and once I am queen I will make sure that it is made much more suitable."

"You two will suffer for this if I have to get the high council to strip your powers," Jareth yelled not really knowing what he could do. He did not have the power to fight them and he couldn't stop the fire that was now higher than Kiara. It was almost enough to make him give everything up; there was no way out, but that didn't stop him from trying. Jareth began to use all of the magic he had to try and fight the two evil fae.

Katrina found her opportunity; the fire was too high now for anyone to see her pop in and the fae were involved with their little fight. She appeared inside of the circle of fire and found a barely conscious Kiara still trying to struggle with the vines on her arm. "Kiara, I will get these for you," she whispered to the injured fairy.

Kiara looked up, "Thank you, but why are you helping me and what can I do? I am so tired and even with my help Jareth can't win."

Now that the vines were off Katrina new that Kiara would at least have a chance. "I do not agree with the rest of the fairies, but please do not tell anyone. I don't know how you can defeat them, but try keeping it simple. Think of something they can't stand or something that will definitely harm them." With that Katrina was gone, leaving Kiara still in the middle of a blazing circle of fire to think.

"What will hurt a fae?" Kiara said to herself, "A bolt of magic they can easily recover from if they don't deflect it. They don't melt in the rain, they are afraid of anything being better than them but that doesn't really help." Frustrated Kiara pounded her hands on the ground accidentally letting out some magic. A simple yet effective solution came to her; literally it just came to her out of the ground. She put both of her hands on the ground beneath and pushed out what little magic she had.

Vivian and Broderick had the upper hand and soon Jareth was stuck with nowhere to turn and no more tricks up his sleeve. The two evil fae smiled at each other before getting ready to send a final large blast at the Goblin King. A split second before the Goblin King was about to be zapped Vivian stopped and started coughing; Broderick stopped his spell as well and looked at his wife with concern. Vivian couldn't stop and Jareth took that chance to push them both back and get away, but he didn't get far. The three of them were now staring at the reason that Vivian was having trouble breathing.

Kiara kept sending her magic into the ground and was soon covered in vines that eventually smothered the flames and grew. Large purple and blue swirled flowers began to bloom all around her and she prayed that it would actually do some good; it was the one plant that made all creatures in the underground sick. Only a small bit of air was making its way into the center where she was, but she still kept it growing and growing.

Vivian looked at the large plant in horror as she continued to try to catch her breath; soon she couldn't stand it and ran as far as her legs would take her from the dreaded weed. Broderick followed her yelling to Jareth that it wasn't over and that he would get his kingdom. Jareth barely heard and kept watching as the plant continued to grow; soon even he couldn't bear to be close and had to fly up and wait for the spell to stop.

As soon as Kiara ran out of power the plant stopped growing and actually started to die as she passed out. After she was out for about fifteen minutes it was safe enough for Jareth to get closer to her; he made it rain so that most of the pollen would be washed off and he could carrying her back to her little cottage. He was just about to take off when one young fairy ran towards him holding a bag.

"Please your highness, don't be too angry with her. She laid this egg and I believe that she was frightened and needed help," Katrina said as she handed him the bag with the egg inside. Jareth nodded once and started flying away. He was extremely angry with her, but also relieved that she was alright now. He dropped her off in her own bed and made a small basket for the egg to stay warm. With a small sigh he headed back to his castle to get his anger out somewhere else.

The note Jareth found on his bed did not make his day any better at all. He quickly returned to Kiara's room and sat in a chair waiting for her to wake up. Dealing with these kinds of problems was not something Jareth was any good at and not something he wanted to get used to either. His mood continued to get worse as he realized that the rain he caused did not do a good enough job of cleaning Kiara of the pollen. It didn't seem to matter too much, because he still continued to sit there and stare at the letter from Tia. Part of him was happy that Tia was gone and that he didn't have to listen to her anymore or try to keep her happy; it was annoying and most of the time didn't seem worth it. The other half of him that he was trying to bury was heartbroken once again.