"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 50
By Aiijuin

*Disclaimer: I don't own anything Jim Henson or Labyrinth. Gröeg was originally designed by Brian Froud and catalogued by Terry Jones in Brian Froud's "The Goblins of the Labyrinth". This fanfiction is rated M for some harsh language and adult situations. Gavin King is Jareth, the Goblin King, for those who have jumped into the middle of the story. Jeremy Eden is from the original Henson script of "Labyrinth" as the man who wrote the "Labyrinth" playbook that Sarah was reading from, in the beginning of the 1986 movie.
Be warned! Although this is a Sarah/Jareth romance story, it is also a profoundly dark fairytale!
**NOTE: Story numbering is behind by 1 chapter, because there is a prelude, which is not considered a chapter. Fanfiction . net automatically assigns numbers to the chapters by default, which I have not control over. Thank you!

Chapter 50: The Race Against Time

Jareth sat atop his throne within the Goblin Kingdom. He was contemplating about how he and Sarah were going to entertain themselves for the rest of the afternoon once she had returned from the outer walls of the Labyrinth. A devious grin had spread across his face as he imagined every seductive possibility. He looked over at Sarah's empty throne that sat next to his. Longingly, he tapped his boot with his staff and lounged lazily with his one leg hung over the armrest of his throne. He sighed again and flopped his head back in boredom, while he deeply inhaled the fresh, warm air.

It was a perfect day!

Of course, everyday was perfect in the Goblin Kingdom, Jareth thought as he arose from his reclined position and strutted over to the window.

Although he couldn't see Sarah from this distance, he figured that she was still fiddling with the wisteria growing on the entryway again. Prior to her doing so, her sister Sashya had probably chatted the morning away with her. So as usual, Sarah had been delayed in her return to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City.

Jareth knew that his Queen would return before the sun began to set. She may have dawdled, but she always arrived at the last minute to rescue him from imminent loneliness.

Imminent loneliness, Jareth laughed. He knew Sarah would roll her eyes at that description.

The goblins were running about the palace laughing and playing, when they finally turned to their king and begged him to sing them just one more melody. Since he was in a chipper mood and Sarah would probably be another hour or so, he agreed.

I could always speed up time on her, Jareth smirked.

He was about to reach towards the hands of the clock and roll them forward with his magic, when he thought he saw a shadow from the side window. At first, he thought it was a diving flock of ravens, but as the Goblin King was about to look, he heard the most utterly terrifying sound and saw a flash of light three times brighter than the sun. The ground began to quake and several goblins latched tightly onto his legs in fear. He had a difficult time shaking them off, but when he finally did, he looked out the window to see a great mass of energy heading straight towards his castle. It resembled a blast from several atomic weapons going off at once. A rolling fire cloud was seconds away from the boundaries of his kingdom, when Jareth instinctively reached out his right hand at the thirteen-hour clock, in order to stop time. However it didn't matter! Even when he used his magic, the approaching shockwave just continued to rumble forward and devour everything in its path.

The cataclysm was unaffected by his magic and could not be stopped. He looked out the window and saw the outer walls of his Labyrinth crumble and then vanish in the destruction.

"Sarah," was the last word he said as the force consumed he and his castle. He could hear the terrifying screams of his goblins and the wanton squawks of the frightened birds as they fluttered about.

The ground dropped out from under him and he fell,
fell,
fell into the darkness….

Jareth awoke with a startle as a cold sweat poured from his brow. He looked at his surroundings and realized that he was still in the d'Bourgeise Château.

It was just a dream, Jareth thought.

He had spent the evening in a bedroom that Lady Sarah had designed just for him long ago. Sir Eden had explained earlier that the room was forbidden to all, except for the Goblin King himself. It was the largest bedroom within the château and the most lavishly decorated. Sarah had kept it appropriate to Jareth's tastes, and when Jeremy had ushered him into the room, he immediately felt at home. The Marchioness had apparently anticipated that at some point in time, Jareth would find and visit her Labyrinth.

Torok, who had been escorted to another great suite farther down the hall, was now standing over Jareth with a concerned look on his face. He whispered, "Mon Frère? Are you alright?"

Jareth sat up disoriented. It had all felt so real to him. Torok continued, "I could hear you screaming for Sarah from halfway down the hall, mon Frère. I almost thought that this Labyrinth had decided to destroy you."

"It was a nightmare," Jareth sputtered as Torok handed him a handkerchief, so he could dry his face.

Jareth took the cloth from Torok's hand, patted his forehead, and then looked out of the vast windows. The sun had risen high into the sky and all was bright and beautiful. Contrary to his belief that he wouldn't find rest at all within this place, his power must have shifted back to Sarah Williams halfway throughout the evening and he fell sound asleep.

Toby had slept in Lady Sarah's old room, which of course, he protested about since it was too girly for his tastes. The teenager was down eating breakfast in the kitchen and asking Sir Eden hundreds of questions about knighthood and swordplay.

As Jareth made sure his disguise of Gavin King was still intact by looking into the tall, oval, wall mirror, Torok grabbed his shoulders from behind and jokingly purred into his ear, "Aww, you look beautiful, Darling… Now let's flee from this place, before we become permanent residents!"

Gavin swatted Torok away as the Troll King pecked him on the cheek in a humorous fashion. Gavin wiped the side of his face in disgust and then shook his head while replying, "There's something that I still have to receive from Sir Eden before I leave. He mentioned a particular book last night, and I think that we're going to need it before we leave this place. By the way, don't ever do that again…"

"I won't, I won't…. Just hurry," Torok whined. "This place gives me the creeps, and that's saying a lot for a Great King like myself."

Gavin smirked and then jested, "Who ever told you that you were a 'Great King', Trollie? You seem borderline dreary to me."

Torok laughed and replied, "Oh, and this coming from a king who has been chasing the same mortal girl monotonously for over fifteen years after she handed his arse to him on a silver platter of defeat…"

Toby came stumbling in while the two kings were insulting each other and said, "Yo! Mr. King! Sir Eden wants to see you in his study when you get a chance! Oh, and there's still some breakfast downstairs if you want it."

Gavin shook his head, and replied, "I'm not hungry this morning, Master Williams. Thank you."

At that Gavin King walked out of the bedroom and Torok followed close behind him. They made their way towards the study as Toby skipped ahead of the immortal kings. He opened the study door for them and Sir Eden was sitting behind the desk waiting patiently.

The first words from Jeremy's mouth were, "Did you sleep well, Mr. King?"

Jareth, who was concealed as Gavin, nodded and said, "It is a strange slumber here though… I must admit."

"Yes, I know. I have the nightmares too," Sir Eden mused as Gavin turned his undivided attention towards the knight.

Jeremy gestured for Gavin and Torok to take a seat, and Toby flopped unto a chaise nearby. Sir Eden continued, "They aren't dreams. They are memories. Each person experiences a different one."

"Yeah, and they're weird too," Toby interrupted. "I mean, mine was just like what is happening right now to my sister Sarah… I mean the baby thing. I didn't know that Lady Sarah was going to have a baby too… I thought you said that she was devoted only to Jareth. C'mon Sir Eden, were you really messing around with her on the sly?"

Torok and Gavin turned to stare at the teenager. Jeremy raised his eyebrows, "Your sister Sarah is pregnant? How intriguing…"

"Uh-huh," Toby nodded and continued, "Except she won't blab about who the daddy is, right Mr. King? Yeah, I can see the guilt in your face… My fear is that when the Goblin King finds out, he is totally going to kill you, or probably turn you into a goblin… either way, it will be unpleasant, I'm sure…"

Sir Eden stopped Toby's from teasing Gavin King by asking the boy, "Do you know why the Goblin King takes the wished away and unwanted children, Toby?"

"I dunno. I always assumed it was his magical occupation or something," Toby shrugged.

"No," Jeremy replied. "Lady Sarah said that it was because it was a latent desire within him to replace his unborn child that was lost to him long ago."

Torok and Gavin turned their full attention back to Sir Eden. Toby whispered, "He lost his kid? When?"

Jeremy arose from his desk and walked over to the bookshelf. Before he answered Toby's question, he ran his finger along a group of similar looking blue, bound books. He muttered, "All of these books within this bookcase will tell you anything that you've ever wanted to know about the immortal realms and the Underground. While most focus on volumes and volumes of Jareth the Goblin King, I would highly recommend book thirteen of this particular blue-covered series."

Jeremy pulled the last blue, bound book, which bore the inscription, "XIII" on the lower part of the spine. He flipped through the pages gently and turned towards the very end. He placed it upon the desk and finally answered Toby cryptically, "I think all of the answers that you seek lie within a place simply referred to by Lady Sarah as 'The Isle Beyond Time'."

After a short pause, Sir Eden continued, "There is a map and coordinates within, plus a number of other interesting facts. I wish I could go with you, but since you already know of my bane, I won't bore you with the story again. No fancy wishing could ever remove me from here anyway, not even the powers of the Goblin King himself."

Torok replied, while thinking of his own unborn child within his queen, "Well, I cannot go there with you, mon Frère. I'm afraid I have been away from Sashya too long."

Gavin pulled Torok aside as he grabbed the blue book and requested outloud, "Torok, please check in on Sarah before you return home. I loathe the thought of leaving her alone in that hospital…"

"'Hospital?'" Jeremy asked wryly. "Don't leave her in that place with the weak and ill people, and with the women who are bearing their young!"

"Why not?" Toby asked. "They take good care of people in the hospital. Sarah's too weak and ill to be at home."

"She won't be weak for long…" Sir Eden continued. "When your sister Sarah rises to her full power as Goblin Queen thirteen days before her thirty-third birthday, you're family is in for quite a rough ride. Now, take her out of that place filled with innocents, before she decimates it by accident! She's probably already having strange things occur to her and she's probably destroying things by accident. I hope your parents have homeowner's insurance, Toby."

Jareth immediately thought of how Sarah had destroyed the fetal monitor at the hospital, when she was frightened by Sashya's presence. He turned to Torok and changed his request, "Torok, take Sarah Williams to my mansion at Henkies Estate and have Gröeg summon some assistance from my other home to care for Sarah. Then, tell my 'butler' that I would like him to accompany me to this 'Isle Beyond Time'."

Torok nodded and walked out the door of the study before he vanished.

Toby was going to chase after Torok, when Gavin tapped the boy on the shoulder and said, "I hope you don't mind coming with me to this 'Isle Beyond Time', Toby, but something tells me that I shall need a second set of eyes within there."

Toby nodded as Sir Jeremy Eden smiled and finished, "I wish you all well on your journey, and if I had but one wish granted to me, I would ask that you bring Sarah Williams here, so that I may meet her in person just once."