Author's Note: I was in a really weird mood when I wrote this, so it reads in a really weird way. I'm actually quite surprised; it's almost funny. Though maybe I just have a terrible sense of humour. Anyway, it is meant to be a portrayal of how they relate together, ten years into being apart.
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"I offer you your dreams," Jareth sighed, "Take the damned thing and just forget him."
"No," Norma said stubbornly, "I never meant to wish Nigel away and you know that. I was only angry! But I want him back now, so if you'll just be so kind as to hand him over."
Jareth suppressed a groan with great difficulty. He was really too tired for this. And God help him, he had got one of the fighters. Of all the days in time, he had to get a proper challenger on the one day he really didn't feel up to it. He flicked away the crystal and reached out an impatient hand, grabbing the front of her sweater and hauling her close.
"Do you think you can beat me, girl?" he snarled, "I would advise you to rethink that decision. Come now; take my offer and leave me your young man. You do not want to try my Labyrinth. It is far too dangerous for you."
"Look, he is not my young man," she hissed back, "And no, I will not rethink my decision. If I can run away all the way to London at the age of fifteen and live on my own, I can beat any silly little maze you point me at. And goblins don't scare me."
"They should," Jareth smiled, allowing her a glimpse of sharp white fangs before he dropped her with an unceremonious thud.
Norma squeaked as she sat down far too suddenly on warm brown sand, spluttering as the fine grains rose up in a light cloud and coated her. She briefly considered biting the nearest ankle. But the leather boots looked too thick to give beneath her teeth so she contented herself with standing up and glaring at him.
The Goblin King was standing still for a moment, looking extraordinarily pale, a hand pressed to his mouth and nose as if he were trying not to breathe something. She could barely see him breath any more.
"You ill?" she asked, tapping him on the shoulder.
Jareth dropped his hand and lifted his chin, his eyes daring her to feel concerned on pain of his wrath. "I think we should discuss your options again," he said silkily, "That is my Labyrinth."
Norma gasped and paled. "It- it doesn't look too impressive," she muttered, trying not to notice how big it was.
Jareth leaned against her and lowered his head to her ear. "That, my dear, is because you are not inside it yet. Find your way in. Find your way through. And find your way to my Castle at the centre where your young man awaits you."
"He's not..."
"And do it in thirteen hours," he interrupted, vanishing away into thin air.
Norma blinked at the spot where he had been standing, the weird man with the tight clothes and red-backed black cape. Sure, capes were back in fashion, but no one wore tights and poet shirts any more. But then this was another realm and... the Labyrinth. "I guess I should start where all good stories start- at the beginning," she mocked, walking down the steep embankment to the outer wall before her.
Nothing. No door, no tunnel, no passageway... her knuckles were scraped raw from trying to find a secret brick to push or something and the damned clock behind her was ticking with that dire countdown of time that reminded her she didn't have that long. "Will you just open?" she growled, punching the wall.
Her fist went right through. She stared blankly at the wall for a second and then pushed a little. The rest of her arm went through. But she'd knocked on this section just moments ago, and it had been pure stone! What was going on?
"Are you going to stand there all day, then?" a voice said.
Norma snapped her brown head up to look at the dwarf child currently grinning at her. "Who- who are you?" she asked, quivering a little. Dwarfs were meant to be nice people, weren't they? Sure, they didn't grant wishes like fairies, but they still didn't massacre girls trying to get into a Labyrinth, did they?
"You know, if you wants to get into the Labyrinth, you has to actually step inside," the dwarf pointed out.
Norma looked to the wall again and moved her foot. Her body slid through like butter. It was actually a really nice feeling, as if nothing could stop her from getting to where she wanted to go. She happily walked to the next wall, but wasn't too surprised when it blocked her with real stone.
"You think every wall's going to open for you?" That dwarf again! What did he want?
"No, I don't," Norma pouted, "But I'll thank you to remember that I've never been through this Labyrinth before. I don't know what to expect. Especially with that queer old pansy in charge of it."
"Pansy?" the dwarf looked astonished, "Cor, where'd you see a talking flower? My old dad would love it!"
"Not the flower; the guy with the ruffled clothing and freaky hair! The Goblin King."
"The King is a flower? My old dad never said!"
"He's not a flower," Norma sighed. She looked up and down the passageway. "Which way do I go?"
"My old dad..."
"Never mind your old dad, which way should I go?"
Jareth chuckled as he watched it in his crystals. What a bit of luck that Heggle had sent his son instead of him. The young dwarf was old enough at eight years old- seeing as how dwarves matured much faster than any other creature- and as an adult seemed quite proud of his new position as the Labyrinth's gatekeeper. But trust Wellis to be too proud to answer a proper question! The girl was so frustrated that he didn't feel quite so ill any more.
Wellis scratched his head and looked cautiously from left to right. Then he looked up to the frustrated grey eyes of his questioner. "You goes where you wants," he said, shrugging his stubby arms, "It all depends, don't it, on where you wants to end up."
Norma took a deep breath and told herself that it would not be a good idea to drop a rock on the poor thing's head. It was probably Pansy's fault anyway. "I wants- er, want- to end up at the Castle at the centre of the Labyrinth. Preferably before my thirteen hours are up. Bonus points if you tell me what happens when I get there."
Willis considered all three desires. He held up three fingers and started with the first one. "One, I can't tells you the way to the Castle. It ain't right, for me or you. Two, I can helps you find the way there before your time is up, but it's tricksy. Three, when you gets there, you'll have to fight His Majesty."
"Fight? What, with swords or something? He doesn't look the kind to rough-house," Norma remarked, "Though he looks like someone who'd go for your balls in a fight and cut them off without a care in the world. I bet he fights very dirty."
Wellis looked doubtful as to what she wanted him to reply. The Goblin King had never looked dirty to him, but then he'd only seen him once or twice. And the first time had been when he'd been a babe. His mother had packed him up on one of her weekly visits to the Castle and apparently the King had soothed him when he cried. He didn't believe a word, and certainly the King he'd met last year looked more like the kind to eat babies than sooth them.
Jareth was currently twisting on his throne in laughter, laughing so hard that he cried. His head was spinning and he was far too weak for this exertion, but he couldn't make himself stop. The girl was wonderful. She just stood there! There was no compulsion in her, no fearful worry of what everyone would say if she lost. She was just answering a challenge. And Wellis...
The goblins around him stared in confusion as he tossed the crystal into the air and split into ten, all the new ones circling him in a whirling spiral as he laughed helplessly in his stone seat.
"So which way?" Norma asked again.
"I tolds you- your feets has to take you there by yourself. I can't be telling you the way. It ain't how this works!"
"Aargh!" the girl yelped, jumping to her feet and taking off in a huff to the left. Whichever way it took her, at least it took her away from the damn dwarf before she murdered him. The creak of stone stopped her and she jumped around to see... nothing. Sighing in relief, she turned to continue and squeaked.
Jareth grabbed her just before she toppled over and shoved her sweetly against the wall to keep her upright. "There. Now isn't this a terrible way to spend the day?" he murmured, fluttering his eyelashes at her.
She glared at him.
Jareth smirked and sidled closer, putting a subtle swing into his hips. Oh, but he hadn't done this for so long. And with the leather jacket to highlight the curves of his body, well, it just screamed for attention. He almost laughed again as her gaze fell considerably below the neck of his shirt.
"Norma, child?" he cooed. Her eyes snapped back up to his amused face. "Tell me, my dear, why does a girl like you mess with a terrible bore like your boyfriend," Jareth asked, leaning against the wall beside her.
Norma groaned tragically and covered her face with her hands. First, that damned argument; then, the brain-dead dwarf; now, the thickheaded gay man. What was this- a daytime soap opera? "He is not my boyfriend or fiancé or husband or anything," she ground out, "He's my manager." A slanting eyebrow rose with polite enquiry. "I'm a singer. He told me he'd make me a star and, well, I believed him and signed a contract. Just call me doofus."
"I would, but it is so uncivilized," Jareth chuckled, ignoring the growl from his left, "I have offered you your dreams. You want to get rid of this- this manager of yours. My plan works both way."
Norma looked up with hopeless eyes. "He has a family; a wife and two kids. They'll want to know why he hasn't come back and I like Alice. She's been good to me. Even let me eat at her place when Nigel couldn't get me a single booking for six months and I had no money to buy food. I can't just leave them without a husband and father!"
Jareth had stiffened next to her and she noticed, narrowing her eyes at the icy look on his face. "You would be a star," he offered, "Well able to provide for them to appease your guilt."
"Yes, I suppose so. If I wasn't too much of an idealist to hate the very thought of it. Goblin King, do you know what you're asking me to do here? I cannot go back without taking Alice back her husband. I just can't! She loves him."
But Jareth had suddenly raised his head and was looking somewhere else, his attention caught by a movement seen from the corner of his eye. "Stay here," he ordered, moving swiftly and noiselessly down the path.
Norma sighed and gave up, sliding down against the wall, she decided that she would just have to fail or continue. Maybe there was a bargain she could strike with the Goblin King? Maybe he would send Nigel back if she offered to stay in his place? The clock continued to tick in its monotonous, nerve-wracking way and she amused herself by throwing pebbles at it and watching them fly harmlessly through the image.
The sound of something scrabbling down near where her host had gone startled her and she stood up to take a better look. There was a dog bounding towards her. The human part of her brain told her it was kind of sweet that the Goblin King had a dog. The part of her brain interested in self-preservation screamed at her to see that the dog was enormous and slavering and heading straight for her.
She was paralysed, petrified and there was a dog... no, a wolf! It was a fucking wolf!
Something whizzed past her and leapt at it and then there were two wolves, fighting each other with a lot of snapping teeth and yelps and growls and a white tiger padded noiselessly to her side and she was just getting to ready to scream for help when the tiger growled and lunged forward, catching one of the wolves by the scruff of the neck and dragging it out of the melee. The other one just got off its back and stood panting, backing away a little with a low whine its throat.
The white tiger vanished with it's captive and Norma slid once more down against the wall, staring in morbid fascination at the wolf looking at her. The tail wagged and then the blue eyes- curious, that, for a wolf- seemed to roll as if amused with itself and Norma gasped when the animal changed to human form and sat down panting on the ground.
The young man looked her over with quite a lot of interested and took several deep breaths. "Hey," he said, waving a hand, "You okay?"
She said something that might have been 'yes' and might have been 'no' and might have been any combination of the two thereof. No more than five heartbeats later, the Goblin King was back, dressed in a white dress shirt and black pants, snarling as he clamped his hand over a bloodied arm.
He hadn't even noticed her, too busy staring at the other man with a look that said he just might rip someone's throat out with his own teeth. "You bloody fool," he said bracingly.
The man on the ground said nothing but got to his feet and brushed himself off, wincing as he put his ankle to the ground. The ankle had been bitten, Norma remembered. "The girl was in danger. What did you want me to do?"
"I had the situation well in hand."
The youth looked up sceptically, his dark blond brows managing to convey his disbelief in spite of not moving an inch. "So I saw," he drawled, "You let a pack of mountain wolves into the Labyrinth and then exposed a mortal woman to them? The stories must be true."
The Pansy clenched tighter on his bleeding arm and glared. "What stories?" his voice was dangerous enough to cut diamonds.
"The stories that I hear about people dying in your new Labyrinth," the other man snapped, "How can you be so careless, Jareth? Losing, yes- I can understand you leading someone astray, forcing them to lose, whatever you call it. But death? It's not right!"
"On whose say so?" the one called Jareth barked, "Yours? Your ideas on right and wrong are very different to mine, my elf. I believe you know that."
Norma stared with interested at the small, slender golden-haired male nursing a bitten ankle. So there were really elves? He didn't look much like she thought elves were supposed to look. For one thing, his ears weren't pointed. For another, he wasn't particularly graceful, though she had admit hardly anyone could be when trying to stand upright and check an ankle for broken bones.
"My idea of right is to not throw people off roofs when you promised to let them live."
"And mine is to not have affairs behind your husband's back."
Husband? She looked to the golden-haired male again. He was looking uncomfortably at her now, as if he'd just realized she was still there. The Pansy seemed to notice because he turned around and said something in another language; it sounded nasty and the supposed elf glanced sharply at him and shook his head. "If my kids learn those words from you I will have a lot to say," the elf said.
Kids? Husbands and Kids? No wonder the Goblin King has frozen next to her when she'd started spouting off about not wanting to deprive someone of a husband and father. He knew what she was talking about! But those two were married? How was that possible? And Kids! Well, she guessed they probably adopted.
"Will you just accept the damn dreams?" the Goblin King snapped, offering her the crystal again.
She stared longingly at it, seeing herself as a multi-award winning star, signed to the biggest record labels, signing autographs and huge contracts, splurging money and eating at the best restaurants in leather pants and her Sex Pistols t-shirt. "No. Sorry, I can't. I need Nigel back."
Toby was looked from her to the Pansy, a hopeful look on his face. "Why is that?" he asked, addressing her instead.
"He's married and he has kids. I got mad at him when he forgot to finalize a show for me at this club and I wished him away, but Alice- his wife- has been really nice to me and I don't want her to have to fend for herself. He's not much, but she loves him." Norma was pleading now, hands clasped as she did her best impression of the puppy dog eyes. "Please!"
The elf-person looked amused and not the least taken in by her. But there was soft look around his mouth and he jerked his head to the Pansy. "What do you think, Jareth? Can you spare some mercy for this one?"
It was a quiet explosion, rippling through the air without so much as a sound. But in less than two seconds, the golden-haired man was pinned against the stone wall by the neck, the Goblin King's gloved hand threatening to choke the life out of him.
"How dare you," he whispered, "You have read the Rules. You have studied them. You have poured over them and don't say you have not. And you suggest such thing?"
"He has kids, Jareth," the other one growled back, "And a wife. It may not mean much in the Underground, but Aboveground we actually try to promote family! Just because you can't bear the sight of me, doesn't mean that everyone else hates their mates too."
So she'd been right! The Goblin King was a pansy! Though she didn't think he was the kind to bend over for anyone, let alone that slim little thing he was pressing against the wall. She wondered idly if they would forget she was there and just shag each other already. She'd already seen wolves and silly dwarves. She might as well see gay sex.
The hand dropped and the Goblin King stepped away. "Go back to the Castle," he said woodenly, "I will take care of matters as I see fit."
The elf-person looked undecided for a moment and then turned to go.
"And Toby!"
He turned back with something very wildly like hope in his eyes.
"Never enter the Labyrinth again. Not unless you want a collar on that pretty neck of yours."
The elf-person disappeared with a dark look tossed back to his... lover? Husband? Mate? Norma didn't know what they called it, but collar- now that was kinky! She'd had a boyfriend once who'd wanted her to dress up in a school uniform and let him get a look up the too-short skirt. She shuddered. It had not been pleasant.
"You." The Pansy was looking at her with mismatched eyes that blazed in such a way that she feared he would kill her instantly for one wrong move. "I suggest you take the crystal or continue running the Labyrinth. Rabid wolves are the least of the dangers, however, and I would hate to see you killed."
"I won't take the crystal," she said clearly, "But I don't think I'll win either."
Jareth looked very interested suddenly. Most people tried to tell themselves that they would win, hoping it would come true if they wished hard enough. But this child... even Sarah hadn't been this grounded in reality. And Sarah had not had that bargaining looking in her eyes.
"Perhaps we can make a bargain?" he suggested, tapping a gloved hand on the wall as he looked her over, "What can you offer to make me give up Nigel?"
She shrugged. "You could have me, I guess."
The corners of that hard mouth twitched into a sudden smile. "May I?" he purred, moving closer.
Norma jumped back with a disgusted splutter. "You're gay!" she shouted, "Stop looking at me like that."
Jareth really did smile this time, but it wasn't a pleasant smile at all. "I assure you I am not gay," he reasoned, "Bisexual, yes. But not gay." The unpleasant look disappeared somewhat. "Would you like to test me?"
"No! Keep your black leather hands off me, pervert! What I meant was, I'll stay here and take Nigel's place. You can send him back."
Jareth was very impressed. Not many would have agreed to that the few times he had suggested it. Ariadne had been the last and she- she had hated him because she had lived to regret that. She had lived to regret many things in her life. But this child seemed perfectly willing to take the Wished-away's place. It was positively refreshing.
"If I agree," he began slowly, "What may I expect in return?"
She looked disgusted. "You're giving up that really gorgeous elf for me? Does he have genital warts or something that you don't want him?"
"Elf?" Jareth was clearly confused. "What elf?" Oh. That one. "Toby, you mean? Toby is no elf, child. He is a mortal, bound to me through a magical connection that we in the Underground call marriage. If you stay here you will soon be told the tale."
"Not an elf? I knew it! His ears weren't pointed! He's human? Cool. Did he get wished-away too?"
The topic was getting too close to personal for comfort. And Jareth refused to get into a situation where he sat down on the dirt floor of the outer reaches of his Labyrinth and told her the whole sordid tale. For one thing, it was far too clichéd. For another, he wasn't about to discuss it with anyone. "That is a tale for a winter's night. Make your choice: accept your wishes and leave the man; run my Labyrinth and forfeit him when you lose; take his place and let him leave unharmed. Which will it be?"
Norma sighed. She really didn't want to stay here, but at least it seemed interesting. "I'll take his place," she said reluctantly.
Toby watched it in the crystal and sighed, leaning back in his bathtub as he soaked his recent fight out of his bones. Fiorle came in with some clean clothes and smiled at his somewhat sleepy friend.
"Did the mortal live?" the fairy asked, bending to pick up the injured ankle and start to clean it.
Toby hissed at the pain, but nodded. "Jareth actually agreed to let her change places with him." The happiness slipped somewhat. "He propositioned her. She even asked about me and asked why he'd give me up for her. He just said we were married and that was it. Was that what went wrong?"
The Fairy deftly wrapped a linen bandage around the wound and let the ankle rest on the edge of the sunken bath before shaking his head. "Many do find boredom in a life-long commitment. And I am afraid your Gwenél was right- we never swear to be faithful to our partners."
"So Jareth got bored," Toby muttered to himself, "Just like I knew he would be."
"No, I do not think boredom is quite what he feels with you," Fiorle grinned, rubbing experienced fingertips into Toby's calf.
The mortal moaned a little as the taut muscles relaxed and sighed, wriggling happily in hot water. "And how is that?"
"You interfered with his challenger, you ran into the Labyrinth when he had forbidden you time and again, you fought a wolf and almost lost a foot, you provoked him to attack you, you encouraged him to break faith with the Spirit of the Labyrinth and then you sniped at him for cursing you for your inability to stay out of his business. He is far too frustrated to feel bored with you!"