Goblin 6

Here I am! Back from New York and here for the next two weeks before school starts! Don't worry, you'll still get updates then! And now, for the main attraction, the story! Wait, side attraction first. In the last chapter, Qr'a wrote a letter to Jareth and signed it Qr'a of the Sun. My mistake! It should say Qr'a of the Moon. If it helps, think that she might have been drunk.

And NOW the main attraction!

Chapter 6- Kingdom Come

"OUCH!" Jareth hissed between his teeth as he cracked his skull on the roof … again. He looked at his hands again. They were pale and thin, spidery almost. He was still dressed in Goblin attire, and was still a rather chubby, rheumy eyed Goblin. Except he was an elf. And he was tall.

Giving up on trying to get out the door, he sat on the floor and held the pendent in his hands. It felt warm, like a living thing, pulsing. It gave a particularly hard pulse. He stared at it, then looked down.

He appeared to have lost a lot of weight.

A nymph screamed again, but Jareth didn't hear. What he did hear were bells. Omega was calling them. He may not look like a Goblin, but there are some things you just can't give up. Frog and pond sort of thing.

With much swearing and hittings of head, Jareth managed to ply himself from the hut. He was glad no shoe horns were needed.

Standing at his new full height, he saw that he was nearly three times as tall as a Goblin. Jareth swayed on his feet. He never had been one for heights. Whispers swam around his knees like minnows.

A visitor!

Nothing excites a Goblin more than a visitor. Except maybe a chicken.

Jareth was now a very tall, very handsome, very blonde elf. He was the Most Goblin of Goblins, and he was going to be King.

Trying out his new feet, he ran to the castle, only falling once. On the steps he saw a curly haired version of himself. He was angry, his face was red, but somehow he still radiated an air of languidly about him. Jareth should be afraid, but he felt like he was a king with one move in the game of chess. Omega had always played chess with his pawns, and Jareth was the King in check. One move can change the game. And Jareth was going to take it.

Amongst the Goblins he stood, proud and wearing a larger version of their clothing.

Omega glared daggers at him, but Jareth didn't budge. Finally the last ring echoed off into nothingness and Omega began to speak.

"…ach…"

Well, almost. He seemed to be choking on the words that he didn't want to spit out. Instead, he called for the Nymphs.

Xannia appeared, beautiful as ever, dressed in a gold summer dress and barefoot. Her hair blew in the breeze and reflected brilliantly in the noon sun. Jareth was so busy staring at her that for a moment he didn't realize what she was doing.

She appeared to be carrying a shadow, but then a cloud covered the sun, and he could see what it was. A body. A dead body.

Omega stared. Jareth stared. The Goblins stared. The body moved. A head was lifted, and it was Qr'a. She was thin, with a pallid sheen of skin stretched tight. Her eyes were shadowed and too large for her face. Hair that used to fly free was now hanging limp and dull. She wasn't dead. But she was dying.

She stood straight, held by both Omega and Xannia now. In a cracking voice she said, "Welcome, Goblins. Welcome to a new age. Your King is going to die, and the magic will come to make one of you King."

Whisper, whisper, mutter, mutter.

"It has been chosen and it will remain that one of you is King. This King is Jareth!" She collapsed. Omega reached down to pick her up again, but Jareth was there first. Neither of them was sure how he was, but it didn't matter. Jareth knelt beside Qr'a and Omega squatted near. Xannia flitted around them, muttering things in the nymph's language, but it was all Greek to Jareth. He tried to ignore the amazingly stunning woman dancing around him as he looked at the darker girl. It was proven easy, after Qr'a coughed blood on his pants.

She half wiped of the red coming from her mouth, but didn't get it all. She spoke, "Jareth. I am dying."

"I can see that…" muttered Jareth.

Qr'a glared. "Shut up. I am dying and I am going to do a properly dramatic way of it. You only die twice."

Jareth nodded, the started. "Twice!"

"Shut up. Here." She held a scroll in a limp hand. Jareth took it. "Don't read it now. Just know this : You are going to be a great King. The girl is coming and you need to make sure that she doesn't finish. Once she finishes, there will be nothing left to dream and the Labyrinth will crumble. She will get your book. Make sure of it. I love you, good…good bye."

She started shaking, as if from fever. Jareth picked her up, holding her bloody, shaking, dying body close. Omega gritted his teeth. The noise made Jareth look up. He saw a hundred Goblins standing there, not knowing what had happened. "Go away! Go inside!" Jareth shouted, not expecting much of a response. But every Goblin there instantly entered homes and hovels and chicken coops. Even Bulbosu.

He didn't have time to ponder this. The shivering nymph in his arms froze. She fell wilted like a rose past its peak.

A rose?

Show me a rose and I'll show you a tyrant. Show me a tyrant and I'll show you a man who knows where he's going.

A rose. A tyrant. A nymph.

Jareth stood, letting Xannia mourn over her sister. "Every man needs a rose, Omega," he said. "Every man needs someone to prick and to beautify. My rose was her, and I never realized it. A rose is a tyrant. And a tyrant is someone who knows where he is going. Did you ever know where you were going? Did you ever have a rose?"

"You know nothing of roses, Goblin!"

"Yes! The Goblin King!" Jareth turned away from his once idol. He knew now, Omega was simply a man who thought he was King. But he was just a figure head. He never did anything, go anywhere. Jareth vowed he would not be like that.

Leaving the nymphs and king, he sat on the steps to ponder. The amulet on his chest pulsed hot, and with a final throb, fell cold again. Jareth stared at it again. His vision changed, and he saw he was wearing Omega's clothes, tight pants and all. He had this feeling again, one that he could conquer all, only now it was tinged with magic.

He opened the second letter.

Dear Jareth.

The magic is about to come, and you are now Omega-esque, aren't you? You are king, because of the necklace I gave you. The amulet held my life's magic, the blood in my veins, metaphorically. I gave it to you so you would become King. You were the receiver of my magic, my life. It means that you, in essence, have killed me.

And if you aren't a good king, I will haunt you for all eternity for taking my life.

Do not appoint a queen. Have no roses.

I love you,

Qr'a of the Moon