Title: The Centre of the Labyrinth.
Author: Dagonet
Rating: PG13+
Genre: Short story
Status: Completed – March 2001
Disclaimer: "Labyrinth" the movie references, scenes and characters belong to Henson Productions, plot and content as follows are my own.
Hurtling rocks shook the tiny city far below him. Balanced precariously, yet with the sureness of perched bird, he smirked at the scene.
~That's it, little girl, beat the goblins, enter the castle, there you go~
The Goblin King stared into the crystal ball held delicately between his fingertips.
The game was going according to plan. She thought ~she~ was winning. She thought that once she was through those doors all she would have to do was confront him.
She was wrong.
Through the distorted mirror of his crystal, he watched her say goodbye to her friends, delivering a speech of some importance to her. He wished that for once they would be original. How boring.
Sighing lightly, he swung off the ledge, disappearing as he walked to the door. There was only one part of his Labyrinth the girl was yet to discover, and he had to be there for her, to bring finality to his villainous show.
One part of him, the showman, revelled in this. He knew his voice was seductive; he'd seen its effect many a time. So when she ran through that door, gasping, he sang. Of lost love, of pain, and sunlight and hearts and innocence.
But now and then the other side of him, the side that liked the torture he put these children through, shone through, glinting evilly in his eyes.
Did they ever notice it? Of course not. He was whatever they wanted him to be, but they never truly wanted him to be cruel.
And so he ponced around, darting about them, offering what they thought was his heart, his soul, when in reality he was taking theirs.
Reality.
That was something he often laughed at. Was it real? Did it actually happen? So many asked themselves that question. And always the same answer.
He chuckled to himself from behind the pillar. The girl had seen the child. She was about to jump after him. He wondered if one day he would tell them what had happened, or what was about to happen. Then she jumped. Into the centre of the Labyrinth.
He sighed.
Well, Hoggle had told her. Her own fault for trusting him, particularly in a world where you cannot trust ~anything~.
He stepped through the upside-down doorway, and walked down the wall towards the true heart of his Labyrinth.
The girl lay on a slab of grey marble, long dark hair spread over the edge like a frozen stain, trapped in time. How appropriate, Jareth thought to himself.
Jareth smiled cruelly, turning sharply on his boot heel and stepping up the nearest wall.
~Well, Hoggle did tell them that even if they did reach the centre, they'd never get out… Such a pity…~