Come you all and gather around and I'll tell you another tale of the Underground. It's about Jareth and a love story they don't spread around but it was just something that you have found. Now I know you will think this is some sort of odd fairytale from some strange sort of mind, but close your eyes and listen as I take my time. You will like the story I think even it makes you cry, but all the time remember that this isn't a lie. I don't make any money off the stories I tell so don't think I own Jareth or brought the labyrinth on sale. So just allow me to tell the story of Jareth and the girl who loved him, this is their story, "The Ballad of the Ballroom."
She sat swathed in moonlight the girl who loved him, her wondrous eyes were locked on the above limb. Her ears were strained as she listened for the soft flutter of wings. He came up behind her as he changed form, his satin encased fingers wrapping about her eyes with the speed of a summer storm. She gave a delighted gasp and turned towards him, her white linen robes spinning with the wind. Her voice was soft and sweet as she admonished him, "Jareth, you are late, I was worried about you. I had the most terrible dream all about our fate. But you are here and thank the gods alright and now we are together on such a beautiful night."
She wrapped her powdered white arms about him, her lovely face pulled deep against his chest, hopefully willing that he was not like the rest. Carefully he took her in his embrace and whispered in her ear, carefully concealing the reasons he was here. The smell of the herb oil she used in her hair rushed to his head and he think of was taking her to bed. The truth about it all rang in his ears and he tried to fight his great fears. She wouldn't be allowed to go with him, he knew that, now only if his mind would accept that fact.
His resolve was broken and his lips touched her skin, his whole body willing to give into sin. She gave a small shudder as the warmth rolled in, careful steps leading him to her secret place within. Deep into the garden maze they fled, her heart beating with the unknown and unspoken dread. And there in the shadows of Artemis's moon she did what she had been told never to do, love that was forbidden love that made her a fool. Bodies were joined in physical pleasure, a gift given that they would remember forever.
After, as the soft colors of Apollo's ride began, he held her in his arms hoping this all wouldn't be made into some sort of scam. Tender fingers stroked her face, and he tried to lock it into his memory space. He simply stared at her face counting each breath, knowing he would love her until his final death. But now that the day had come, the pleasure of the night was done. Truth that could no longer be held waiting in the shadows, secrets to be spilled. A small sigh was given and each willed the other not to cry. She studied him slowly and knew that he wouldn't lie, she stirred slowly a tear coming to her mirrored eye.
"I know the truth my love," said she her lovely voice speaking of things that could never be. "My Father would not allow you to marry me. The words we have spoken might as well be gone but I will still have this night to cling to my whole life long."
And with that one last kiss was given as she did what he had silently bidden. The silken robes were pulled up over her face and her body tightened against the light's embrace. Softly she stole through the garden gates and in her heart she cursed the fates. The pain, she was sure would last her life, and who's to say that in another world she might be right. But fate it seemed would never allow her, her dream and she often would wonder if the gods hate had started that night.
Jareth sat hating the stars, thinking that in their fading light they had somehow cursed him from afar. A crystal was pulled from the air and held close to his face and he tried to look once more at her private place. But darkness was all the ball would allow him to see and all around them he couldn't even get the sense of she. Gone from the air was her lingering scent and he had to wonder if the passion really had been spent. He rose to his feet and reached his hand to the sky the feathers extending allowing him to fly. He left on speedy wings from this not real place all the while trying to remember her face.
What he didn't know was that the gods had cursed him, that all they thought was the worst of him. They considered darkness his domain and all that was dark was associated with his name. So now that he had fallen in love with the child it nearly drove the gods wild. To them he was a half-breed not worthy of being mentioned, unless it was in a room with heated tension. So try as he might they always thought the worst of him, and now all they wanted to do was hurt him.
The game was played as they always had done before, only no what was ridding on it was so much more. They gave no thoughts for the two sad hearts they had known would be broken from the start. Instead they were fueled by their own hate, their own hunger, so they never knew of the two destines that were put asunder. Their desire for revenge was so great that the two lovers had to be swallowed in a river of pure hate.
The girl sat there as her sadness grew, always wondering if he still cared, if he knew. The days were merged into sleepless nights and she wondered if the world would ever be put to rights. Someone told her once that love stories always have a happy ending but somehow her heart refused to start mending. She pulled herself more deep inside herself and wondered if she would ever truly love anyone else.
Jareth sat alone on his throne, wondering what he was missing, why his life was so drone. He tapped his fingers against the fine wood, willing the emptiness away, trying to find what happiness he could. At night he was tormented, dreams he wanted to be made flesh, and on those nights he woke with a purpose so fresh. To find the reason the cause of it, but part of him wondered if it might cause his downfall. You see he had no memory of the girl he loved so and lost, and as yet he had no idea what that one night of passion would eventually cost.
The girl's father had finally had enough of her melancholy, but then again he didn't know the true extent of her folly. A small display was arranged to break the vision that she so loved, and the goddess to her normal form of a dove. A cruel trick was played on them both even though the girl had thought them betrothed. You see they hadn't done anything that Jareth had not done before or since, but the girl didn't know that and her heart became a bloody mince.
The vision she was shone had another girl in Jareth's arms, and the girl's heart and soul felt like she had been harmed. The tears were formed in her lovely eyes but the god's cruel joke still held another surprise. There in her beloved's kingdom children were made into goblins and monsters of that sort and all she could was look around and snort. But the worst betrayal of all was the look on his face as she burst into his bedchamber, her heart showing in her face. He didn't know her you see, or that any of her was found in reality. So when she had found him in the other woman's arms he had no idea that she had fallen victim to his charms.
She tore quickly away from his kingdom and returned to the place were her heart's dreams lay, not giving a care to the fighting fray. The war was turned all about her ears and all she could think of was the realizing of her greatest fears. Sobbing she threw herself to the garden floor, not wanting to live with this pain anymore. And with a cry that would sound out for years, a knife was produced and blood on the ground was mingled with tears.
The curse she called down would last through time, and all of the pain of the word seemed to revolve in her hate-filled lines. "Damn you Jareth for all you've done. I curse you to never know true love from anyone! Others will adore you in the coming years but none will be around long enough to know you and your deepest fears. A life loving people who don't love you back are all that you will want as a matter of fact. As you don't know me now you never will and all you will remember was that life was what you killed!"
And a violent rumbling raced through the land, and great giant waves came crashing onto the moonlit sand. Lighting and thunder ripped through the sky and it was a wonder that people didn't die. In all of the cities and all of the towns people knew that some great curse had been brought down, and the moon had shifted, hovering over the world like some sort of frown.
And in the Underground there was a great ripping, as the very walls tumbled and shook, Goblin city spilt right down the middle and the Bog of Stench was born instead of the lovely brook. Jareth's castle once of a fairytale-like stature turned and all the lovely walls started to fracture. And there in his bedchamber Jareth turned and look and the last thing he saw falling was what would become a famous book. Written between the tear marks and the lines of sorrow was the story that would come and be known tomorrow.
So alone Jareth became and alone he will stay, trapped in the hate filled curse of that day. The love that rebounded once through the air had died now that he was no longer light and far. His soul became the dark that the gods had always thought it to be and now it seems the world will never be free. The scars from that day are will hidden but nightmares of the girl will often come unbidden.
The girl you see isn't free from the love she felt anymore then he is, her heart was broken and could never be fixed. Night after night she pined for her lost love, and her plight was not missed by the goddess dove. She stole to the girl's window one night and wished she could make things right, but nothing anyone could do would undo that faithful night. But still the girl prayed her heart not taken over with total hate, and she tried to defy her fate.
Her voice was soft and shook with emotion as if she was trying to talk herself into some secret potion. "Goddess Aphrodite please come and help me, I didn't mean it I just loved him you see, please oh please let him believe in me. I would give anything just to be near him once more my heart my soul and so much more. Please just to be near him in any way, I love him so much and even if it's just to touch him only for one day. Please great goddess above hear my prayer, please just listen and care."
And Aphrodite's heart was pulled out to the girl's plight and a meeting was called on Olympus that very night. Some of the gods still wanted to punish the girl for what she'd done, but other's sad love was natural with the two, they couldn't fight it anymore then the sun. So in time a compromise was met and all the restrictions on it were set. The curse would not, could not be removed, but perhaps in time they would be together if their love was proved.
So the girl was told of what would happen and she accepted wearily, her joy more then a little dampened. The magic was done and the terms made and so she sat there in a place her love would never fade.
She became a large glittering room, crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, fighting off the gloom, dozens of peach and white streams trembling with a forecast of doom, Romantic music was played softly and his voice rang through her ears, and everyday she wondered if she had fallen into her worst fears. The curse was taken back so many times that she knew the words by heart but nothing every happened, not even a start.
So for centuries she watched as her curse was fulfilled, her lover become more and more jaded more and more of his heart was killed. The beads on the chandeliers started to run down, crystalized forever like that of a diamond clown. Every failure cuts them both, it leaves a scar, but you can't see it were you are, way out from afar.
So our two lovers are thrown together and the sounds of their tears echo in the night, together without even knowing it, tears that land with almost a fight. The curse will last as long as it can, glimmering there in that low half light, allowing their souls to fall slowly into never-ending night.
So the point of my story dear child is this, be careful what you wish for and be careful for what you might miss. Love of this kind is of the most exquisite sort, it isn't something you try and hunt down for sport. The curses you lay last in your lives for years and don't allow them to become your worst fears. Take love were you find it, remember our lover's dark sad tale, allow yourself to start before you fail.
And now my little tale is done even though no one really won. If I amused you, caused a laugh or smile, please drop me a line and let me know it was worthwhile. If you didn't like it and want me to shut up tell me to bend over and take it up. So go my children from this place and thing of this when you see his face, Nothing is what it seems and always remember that you control his dreams.
~Kim, The Manipulative Little Monster