By: Neko-chan
Disclaimer: I don't own The Labyrinth, but I can always hope, right? Well, I got my wish! Thank you to everyone who reviewed my stories! Everyone was soooo kind!! Well, this fic isn't actually a fic. I consider it a prologue to my other fic, The Labyrinth: Another Tale. I hope you enjoy this fic!! *grins* Be nice and review, k?
P.S.-I also want to clarify some things. I have gotten emails about the similarities Another Tale has with Labyrinth II. I just want to say: I typed up my fic after I joined ff.net. I had not read any one else's stories yet. After I posted my story, I started reading other people's fics. It was then that I discovered Labyrinth II. I did not mean for Sallie Drazzi and my stories to be similar. I got my idea one night when I was watching Labyrinth (when I should have been studying for finals *grin*), and I noticed that everyone gets a happy-ever-after..........except for Jareth. So I decided to write him a new ending! *grin* So. That is all. Thank you. (Oh, and yes: I am planning on writing a sequel to The Labyrinth: Another Tale.)
I Fly Away
A snowy white barn owl sat quietly on a branch of a tree outside a young girl's window. But what most people didn't realize, the owl wasn't actually an owl. It was Jareth, King of the Goblins, shape-changed. He had watched the young girl for many hours, and now dawn was fast approaching.
He had been watching this young girl, woman actually, for several years now. Ever since he had first seen her, so long ago. Sarah. His sweet Sarah, who had broken his heart when she had finally met him--and had rejected his love. And now, several years later, he still loved her with the broken pieces of his heart.
But tonight, as he had watched the Milky Way slowly show its grandeur to the simple people of Earth, he had finally come to a conclusion. Sarah didn't love him, as she had stated in the Escher room. She rejected him, and all he tried to do for her. She didn't love him--now, or ever. And that fact---that knowledge---had shattered the small bits of his heart even further.
Now, he could only feel the pain of a crushed heart--the bitterness, the unfairness. And the aching desire to make someone feel at least a small fraction of the pain that he felt right now.
And so, with dawn's rays slowly tinting the sky into bright colors, promising to be a wonderful day, Jareth slowly flew away. But, as he was leaving, something caught his eye. A house, a few streets away from where Sarah lived. The attic window was open, and it looked as if the small attic had just recently been converted to a room.
As he flew closer, Jareth saw that a red-headed girl, a teenager, no more than 16, was leaning against the window sill, watching him fly by. Curious, he flew closer. The girl wasn't surprised or shocked. She just gave him a gentle smile, and slowly extended a hand. Jareth landed on her outstretched hand, and she gently brought him closer.
She stared into his eyes, her tilted gray eyes enchanting. She cooed to him, and slowly stroked his feathery breast. Looking closer at her, the Goblin King could see that see was far from normal--her ears were delicately pointed.
She's part Fae, Jareth realized. That's why she isn't scared of me-why she wasn't surprised when I came to her. Wild animals must come to her willingly all the time.
Jareth looked at her closer; and, to his surprise, he saw a sadness equal to his own reflected in her stormy eyes. Sensing his gaze, the girl smiled at him gently. Her eyes glowed silver for a minute, and she whispered, "You aren't the only one who has been hurt--the only one with secrets to hide."
Shocked, Jareth quickly jumped off of her hand, and started to fly away. What.....what was that??he thought to himself, still in shock. He flew for several more minutes, thinking to himself. Then, when he was closer to the portal to the Goblin Realm, a revelation came to him. I wanted someone to inflict my pain on; I found that someone. A little Fae.......she will know the meaning of pain and sorrow, once she has felt my own.
But, unbeknownst by him, Jareth's heart was slowly gathering itself up, forming itself back into the heart it once was. Slowly reading itself for a new love, a love that would be even more powerful than before.
::Continued in The Labyrinth: Another Tale::