Jareth collapsed onto his bed, exhausted and heartbroken.
It had been hundreds and hundreds of years, yet he knew her eyes the moment he looked into them.
It made him angry that she did not know him. He felt bad about it now, but in the moment...
He knew he was being cruel, but he could not help himself. The frustration, the grief.
The rejection.
He sighed and sat up.
She was too young, he knew. Too young to take her to wife. Too tender and innocent.
He flopped back on the mattress. "It's not fair."
"Really son?" His father appeared at his bedside. "You are sounding like the girl."
Jareth opened one eye and looked at the former Goblin King. "It was her. Why did the Labyrinth allow her to call me at such an age? It had to know she was just out of childhood. I have waited so long and now what?"
"You know the rules, Jareth. She has until her 25th birthday to call upon you again. Do not give up. That is 10 years in her world. she will be grown then."
"She has to want to contact me on her own. How is that ever going to happen?" Jareth pointed out. "I was terrible to her. Spiteful. Angry."
His father pulled a chair over and sat down. "Yes, you were. However, she desired you anyway. In that last second before she broke your magic, there was a pause. That pause says she considered what you said. She had a twinge of regret and felt something. Give it time. She will ask to see you well before the time limit. Her curiosity will get the better of her."
Jareth got up out of the bed and crossed to the window, loooking out at the darkened maze. "I did this all for her. Couldn't she see that?" He gripped the balcony railing, his gloves squeaking against the polished wood.
His mind was flooded with the memories of his Sarah. Sitting by the fire with her, picking vegetables from her garden with her, touching her.
So much love, and pain.
The pain of that time gripped his heart and squeezed, opening those wounds. overwhelmingh is senses with despair. His eyes watered, threatening tears. He forced them back.
He turned. "Father, I would like to be alone."
The old king, now merely an advisor, bowed and left the chamber.
Jareth went to his wardrobe and opened it. In the bottom was a small hinged door. He pulled on the clasp and it popped up. Inside the hidden space was an object wrapped in green velvet. He pulled it out and unwrapped it.
A memory crystal.
Jareth had filled it with his memories of her.
He cradled it gently in his palms and it began to glow, the magic being activated.
Laying back against on his bed, he gazed within.
There inside was their story. Two young lovers torn apart by hatred. And death. The story of a foolish young Fae prince and the human girl he once loved, and lost.
He sat back to watch and remember.
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So, anyway...
I'm not sure how long this will take because there is going to be *a lot* of going back and forth through time, and basically 4 POVs, Young Jareth, Older Jareth, and two different Sarahs. I mean they are the same Sarah in spirit, but the mind/body are two different people. That the problem with reincarnation fics, even if they are the same soul they are still two different people living different lives with different experiences. The old Sarah lived in a much simpler time, and modern Sarah has a whole other set of problems.
So this is based upon the story of "The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud," an early Bowie song from the late 60s. I always loved it, and in my mind I could see "The Wild Eyed Boy" being Jareth, trapped above, in a world of suspicion and fear, just being himself and getting into trouble.
And one person comes to love him as he is and tries to help him. Chaos ensues. Can't give everything away even though obviously NOT reinventing the wheel lol. Hopefully I'm not being overly ambitious here!
It will take as long as it takes, but I don't abandon my work. I'm posting the
prologue to kick my ass into gear since I've been sitting on this for 5 years now.
Now, about IATOW. It needs so much work and love, plot holes everywhere, disconnected scenes, some shitty overwrought writing I hope I'm better than now, but I really hate to just remove it because every review is precious to me. I still love the story of Harmony and Elsian. So I will slowly rewrite and edit it, then continue with a more streamlined story. I'm probably going to cut some very unnecessary extraneous content from it.
But, here we go again, right? As David said, "Love on ya!" :-)