DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this. (Bummer) All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.
Chapter 3 – Begin Again
"ISENITH!" Jareth bellowed as he strode into the throne room of his castle, scattering goblins with impunity.
"Your Majesty." Isenith answered standing up from his perch in a corner.
"Find the White Fey. I need her here with all possible speed. Tell her I'm cashing in on that debt she owes me. I'll be in the Blue Room." Isenith nodded and disappeared in a flash of darkness even as Jareth strode on up the stairs into his private domain. He carried Sarah's small form into a beautiful but dusty guest room in the east wing of the castle and placed her carefully on the overly large bed, checking for a faint pulse as he did so. He felt a draft behind him and a smell of apples as the Fey Witch as many called her appeared at his summons.
"You called Jareth?" She asked gilding over to him and touching her lips to his cheek. She paused and looked over the girl on the bed with a raised brow. "Surely you don't expect me to foster this mortal Jareth? She is by far too old, and she is dying."
"No, I need you to save her." He said gritting his teeth as he held onto Sarah's hand.
"Please Jareth, she is mortal… wait… she is an adult mortal. Jareth, they will have your head for this. Surely by now you have learnt to obey their rules!" She gasped, shock colouring her voice.
"She summoned me, and she has been here once before. She willed herself away. Gave herself to me. They will not take her from me, she is mine." He snarled, his face going even paler.
"She is the one, yes?" The Fey woman asked touching her dainty hand to Jareth's cheek. He nodded and looked away from her storm grey eyes.
"Will you heal her?"
"I don't know if I can, she is very close to death."
"Please?"
"No need to beg brother dearest. Now you can owe me instead. A happy arrangement for us all, I may be some time." She said echoing his words and disappearing with the girl.
The Goblin King turned and sat on the bed, rubbing his hands through his hair in annoyance, anger, worry and concern. He sat and waited, watching the sun dip towards the western edges of his domain in the now empty room. He didn't even look up as Isenith materialised next to him and handed him a scroll, etched in flowing glyphs.
"They took their time." He commented to the Darkling as he broke the seal and opened the parchment.
"When they are inclined to do so." Isenith agreed mildly.
"We are summoned 2 days hence to stand trial before the Seelie Court. I am to be charged with kidnapping, disobeying the Courts law, and breaking my promise."
"Not as much as I thought."
"No. Nor I. Perhaps there may be some way out of this after all."
"It depends on the girl."
"It always has done." Jareth said narrowing his eyes in thought.
"Can she be trusted?"
"She doesn't have anything left to loose. She made her choices, and said the words, she belongs to me now whether they acknowledge it or not." Jareth said as he sighed and stood up, walking to the ornate wooden doors.
"Who made the claims?"
"Who do you think? I thought I instructed you to destroy the infiltrators?"
"Destroy one and two come to take its place." Isenith shrugged following his master from the room, his robes making a faint rustling sound on the stone floors.
"All we must do now is wait. Tell me, what of the boy?"
"He failed."
"And?"
"The Goblin King was there at his downfall, and the Labyrinth claimed what it was owed."
"Indeed." Jareth paused and held out his hand, his bare wrist showing above the black leather glove. Isenith sighed and placed a cool finger on his king's bare skin and let him take his memories. "Very well, you may retire for the night. Be ready at dawn. I have a few errands to run.
"Yes Your Majesty." Isenith bowed before turning and walking away into shadows and mist. Jareth shook his head and stepped into the blood red study, the setting sun splashing across the walls, setting them alight.
"For all our sakes, I hope you can save her, sister." He sighed settling into his throne like chair behind the large desk.
The moons rose, bathing the now silent labyrinth in their milky glow as Isenith changed form and prowled its ever-changing pathways, his soft pads making no noise in the night to alert his prey. The black jaguar leapt as it rounded a corner and pinned the Fey spy of the Unseelie Court by its scrawny neck. It writhed and tried to confuse Isenith with its glamour, but the Jaguar was immune to its weak power and the Fey howled once as Isenith broke its neck.
Lucia worked tirelessly in her workroom as only a fae could, giving the problem before her 100 of her attention and expertise. She sighed in exasperation and began anew. She had some hours ago given up on the mortal's body, she had replaced it with ease, and the new form was far superior. Flesh meant little to the Fae race, so long as it was beautiful, it was the mind she truly fought to save, and what a mind it was. Something she had never come across before, and the pure potential staggered her. Yet the mind was dragged down and hampered by a small lifetimes worth of memories and anger. It was a shame, but that too could be fixed, should he wish it so.
She paused in her work as a small sprite appeared before her clutching onto a scroll. It bowed low as it handed it to her before disappearing in a flash.
You are summoned to the Seelie Court at dawn tomorrow to bear witness to the charges against your brother, Jareth, King of the Goblins, and Keeper of the Labyrinth. You are requested to bring with you the mortal female – regenerated and able to answer the Courts questions regarding these charges.
Just that. No names or thanks or politeness. She never expected any being a member of the Court herself. Lucia looked up at the ornate long clock gracing the corner of her workroom and sighed. 6 hours to perfect her work. The mortal would pass now, but if she were to truly become what Lucia expected, her work needed refining, purifying, perfecting.
"Isenith."
"Yes Your Majesty?"
"How many more?"
"Just 3 now My King."
"Tell them to come back in 4 days."
"They will feel slighted."
"I don't care."
"As you command."
Jareth continued to glare at the empty space where the Darkling had previously stood, brooding in his mind as he tapped a small piece of parchment against his lips. How could she send him her message and not expect him to want to see what her handiwork had created. He snarled and crumpled the parchment to dust before letting it slide away through his fingertips. Even before the last of the dust had reached the floor, the King of the Goblins had risen from his throne and had passed through an unseen veil between here and there.
"You should not have come."
"You should not have sent me the note." Lucia sighed and nodded at her brother's reply.
"Then we are both at fault." Jareth raised a brow as she turned from him and walked away, out of the beautifully decorated parlour and into her workroom. He held his breath and followed her, finally stopping to look down at the girl who had invaded his dreams for so long.
"What have you done to her?" He gasped reaching out to touch her cheek. Lucia slapped his hand away.
"No touching. I have created perfection. Do you like her? I don't do this for just anybody you know, and I have never worked with a mortal before, so I am rather pleased with the results."
"She was perfect before Lucia, why have you changed her?"
"Her own body was dying. The incompetent fools who were supposed to be healing her failed. I have replaced her body with a new one, modelled as she had been previous to her illness. Your little girl is all grown up now Jareth." She said pointing to the open shoebox, pictures of Sarah and her family showing inside. "I took the liberty of borrowing that as well. You are right; she was perfect, now she will always be perfect. You owe me brother now go, dawn approaches."
Jareth tore his eyes away from the sleeping girl and kissed his sister gently.
"Thank you." He whispered as he disappeared from view.
Lucia stood and watched the girl for a few moments longer, searching for flaws, which she knew she would not find. She sighed and performed 1 last work of magic, touching the girl's turbulent thoughts and memories, removing strategic ones from her active memory and placing them within a shining crystal. She snapped her fingers, finishing the spell and waking the mortal up, all in one motion.
"Come child, we have places to go." Lucia commanded helping the girl to her unsteady feet. The girl gasped and cried out as the world went black again before reappearing in a different room. She would have staggered and fallen had the beautiful woman standing next to her had not held her up. "Easy there child, this will all be over soon."
"Where am I?" The girl whispered, as she was lead along a dim corridor and into another small room. She could hear voices in the distance, just too faint for her to make out what was being said. Examining herself, and her midnight black dress, she knew something was very, very different, not wrong, but just different, it was new, and unfamiliar to her. "Where am I?" She repeated looking up at the woman standing next to her, trying to work out why she seemed so different, so otherworldly, too beautiful, much too beautiful. The girl gasped as something clicked into place in her scattered mind, but she was not fast enough to catch the implications of the memory, for it was gone.