Jareth had to leave the throne room immediately.

He had no idea what he was going to do with her.

In all his time as king, he never had anyone besides himself and goblins stay in the castle.

And HER of all people. He didn't even know that was possible. Why did the first adult to be wished away in his time as king have to be her? Why could it not have been someone else?

With children, he would dress them up and have goblins take them to the villages where there were other adults to adopt. He may never see those subjects, but he was still king. He still made laws and listened indirectly to grievances (through letters).

This was not how it was at first.

Oh no. Not at all. He absolutely refused to do any work at all. Goblins waited on him hand and foot. He was annoyed. And bored.

So bored.

As Goblin King, he was able go to Above easily, but he was unable to change into his regular fae form, always existing as an owl unless he visited someone who wished a child away. This never happened to other Goblin Kings or Queens, for they always had tales of traveling and what the Aboveground was like.

It must be a part of his damn punishment. The only people in that he could ever see in the Underground were runners.

That all changed one day, when he witnessed the first child being wished away. You never forget that first child. The baby's mother wished him away, begging Jareth to take the boy as she was not in a good place to raise a baby. The way she kissed the boy's head and passed him to Jareth's arms made the king soften. He never had that affection from his own parents.

The baby was so, so sick. He was dying, even. The mother knew that she had given her child a possible second chance, in hopes that he could live.

Jareth carried the baby, unsure of how to even care for him. All he had to help him were instruction books on children, as goblins were practically useless.

He was blessed with a very beautiful singing voice. So he sang for him, even as he was crying in pain. He soothed him and kept him warm, feeding him and holding him close.

A few days, as he tried to stay up to care for the babe, the child died.

Jareth was forever changed. For the first time, he witnessed death. He knew what it was, of course. He had even attended funerals. But to see it here, up close and raw, and the fact that he had never lost anyone he cared about tore him apart. He tried every way he could to bring him back, even the goblins were looking at the pair sadly.

He didn't know what to really do, so he took him to the castle grounds and buried him with his own bare hands. For once, he didn't care about the dirt on his impeccably clean clothes. He didn't care about the tear streaks on his face. All he knew was that he needed to do something right for someone.

In honor of the babe, he planted a peach tree where the grave was. A tree of dreams, dreams that the child would never get to experience.

That child did not deserve to die. And he realized, he himself did not deserve the fancy parties and the glamorous life that he had experienced as a prince.

Life wasn't fair. That's how it was.

Sarah was in a very fancy room, the biggest and most beautiful room that she had ever been in. She normally would be jumping up and exploring everything.

But how could she?

She was stuck here, and would not be able to leave. She can't see her family again. Not her friends. Not even to finish her degree. She was stuck in this world, a world she never cared to come back to. Sure, she had missed her friends but not the place itself. And certainly not HIM.

Evie, her little goblin helper, told her to sleep then she can go and dine with the king.

Sarah didn't want to. She didn't want to see that nasty Goblin King with his bad attitude and crazy hair. But she supposed that he didn't really have a choice either, and he was being somewhat kind to her. He could've just thrown her out of the castle if he wanted. The moment he tipped her face with his riding crop and saw her tears, she saw a soft moment she had not seen in him except for in that crystal dream.

Which was apparently all fake, according to him.

But if that was true, how could she have dreamed a song herself?

She must have fallen asleep for she felt Evie shaking her awake. "Lady, you have to dress for dinner."

Sarah rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Okay, I'll wash up."

She was about to reach the bathroom when she saw a very pretty dress. It was a comfortable yet fancy renaissance looking dress, a deep purple with lace trimmings. It was something her inner teen would have killed to have worn.

"Do I have to wear this?" She still wanted to be defiant.

Evie looked thoroughly offended. "Yes! Lady must wear when meet Kingy! And I got it for you too!"

Fine, whatever. Sarah was too tired to argue. She supposed that getting him upset was the wrong move anyway. Why give him more reason to be upset with her?

She washed up and put the dress on. It was very pretty and it seemed very nicely done. It also seemed a tad old, like someone had to restore it. It was a good fit except that it was a little too tall for her.

She put on silk slippers that Evie had also laid out. She chose to go bare faced, not caring about looking pretty. And not for him.

Evie lead her to the dining hall where she saw that the Goblin King was already sitting at the head of a very long table. Sarah noticed that he stood when she walked in the room, looking more than unhappy.

"You're late." He said briskly.

Oh so that's how he was going to start it off. Fine. "You never gave me a time," she shrugged. "And I don't even have a clock to know said time."

She didn't say it angrily. She didn't say it rudely. She just said it with her matter-of-fact kind of voice.

"Hmm." Was all he said in response.

Sarah took it to mean that she was totally correct.

He gestured to the only place that was set, directly to his right. "Please, have a seat."

She did as told, carefully eyeing him as she sat down.

He took a bell and rang it. Just on cue, goblins, dwarves, and other creatures came holding trays of food and drinks.

She wasn't very hungry, she realized. Though it was dinner time now for him, it was only a few hours ago that should have been her bed time. Not to mention the amount of crying she did in her room made her exhausted. But to be polite, she would have a few bites anyway.

He saw that she waited to take the first bite after he did. Good. She did have manners after all.

They ate in silence, Sarah trying to not pick at her food and watching the King eat now and then to know how to eat certain foods. It was very delicious. She probably should have cared about whether it was laced with magic or poison, but for some reason she felt like he didn't want to hurt her. He was clearly not happy to have seen her in the first place so if he wanted to hurt her, he would have.

When he finished eating, so did she. She couldn't finish eating her dinner, mostly because of the different time zone. Did they have time zones here? How did the Underground even work?

The King gave her a long and hard look. "You don't have to stop eating on my account. You may finish your dinner."

She folded her hands in her lap. "Thank you, but I'm not very hungry."

"Is the food not to your liking?" He asked, sounding like a challenge that she would not like the same food that is given to a king.

She shook her head. "No not that. It was delicious, actually. I just am not very hungry because of my body clock. I should be asleep right now during the night, so it just feels odd to eat dinner."

She traced the outline of her napkin. "And I'm sorry if I've wasted food."

He waved dismissively. "Don't worry about that. It can be stored as a leftovers if you would like or we can get rid of it."

"Leftovers would be fine." She said quietly.

They sat in silence again for a moment. And once again, he was the one to break it.

"How is your room? Is it to your liking?" He asked.

It felt very sincere and not at all just one of those filler questions, surprising her.

"Yes, it's beautiful. It's very lovely, I have no complaints except for the clock thing." She forced a little smile that didn't quite meet her eyes.

He gave a slight smile back but it also did not meet his eyes. "I am glad to hear that."

Again, more silence.

"Sarah-"

"I'll go to my room."

Both spoke at the same time.

Sarah stood up and cleared her throat. "Since that's all, I suppose I'll just go to my room."

He raised an eyebrow. "But I did not dismiss you."

She was getting a headache from this.

"Forgive me for being frank, but you're not my dad and even if you are, I'm an adult. I don't need to be dismissed from dinner." She informed him, resisting the urge to fold her arms or to look too defiant.

He obviously did not like this. "But I am a king. It is the correct etiquette."

"I come from a democracy, everyone is equal."

"No, you're wrong." He lazily put his feet up on the chair next to him. So much for etiquette. "The United States of America is a constitutional republic, not a democracy. Not everyone has a direct say in every law since you vote for representatives."

"Yes and no." She sat down. "You can classify the United States as a democracy as well, a type of representative democracy. Not direct, but still a democracy. So, you're wrong by telling me I'm wrong."

"That seems like a stretch to me, especially if positions like the Supreme Court is not decided on by the people but by the president."

"The president is voted by the people if you recall." She said triumphantly.

"Oh? What about your electoral college?" He rolled a crystal in his hand. "If a certain number of representatives vote for a candidate, it can overrule the popular vote can it not?"

Sarah blinked. He was right.

He chuckled and poured some water for himself.

"Regardless, you're a king. But not my king." She folded her arms. Why did it feel almost... fun to debate with him? Even though she basically lost this round?

"Wrong again. You were wished away, therefore, you're my subject." He set the jug of water down. "Ready to admit you're wrong?"

"But that doesn't mean you get to dismiss me." She said with finality. "You may be a king, and that should mean some respect but it doesn't mean everything. I politely excused myself so yes I should be able to leave."

He thought about this for a moment. "What if your president and first lady invited you to the White House for a state dinner? What would you do? I am certain that you would wait for them to dismiss you or for them to dismiss themselves first."

"If I really needed to leave or really wanted to, yes I can." She said with confidence. "And besides, this isn't a state dinner. I'm just eating with you. That's more casual and that gives me even more of a reason to be able to leave when I want."

She smiled large and wide, triumphant. The Goblin King still mulling it over.

Then admitted defeat.

"I suppose so." He said with a grumpy voice.

"Don't be such a bad sport," Sarah was still smiling. "How did we go from being dismissed to talking about the government of my home country?"

He chuckled. "I'm not sure, but I found it highly entertaining and interesting."

Sarah laughed. "I'm sure you did."

He waved her off. "Dismissed."

"Hey, I can dismiss myself." She got up and put her hands on her hips but was grinning from ear to ear.

"Too bad, I dismissed you first, Sarah."

He had the gall to actually WINK at her too!

"Well technically I dismissed myself first, G- wait." She scratched her head. "What should I call you?"

She did know his name actually. Hoggle had said it before.

The King looked at her for a long and hard moment. "I suppose you can call me by my name, Jareth."

It had been so long since someone called him that. He rather missed it. Not that he'd admit it.

"No one calls me that here, at least not to my face lest they get bogged." He took his feet off the chair and sat like a regular person. "But when talking about me, maybe refer to me as The King especially to the goblins."

Sarah nodded. "Okay. Well, I guess I'll go to bed now then?"

He nodded. "Yes. You should sleep. I will make sure Evie wakes you up for breakfast. We can dine and discuss what we should do with you."

Sarah felt her heart sink. She didn't want to get to know a new place again. Even if this one did have a king with an attitude. They were just getting friendly.

Jareth hoped that maybe she would stay with him in his castle. And not because of the curse, he enjoyed her company and her wit. She wouldn't love him anyway, she made it clear the last time she was here. If she refused his offer of giving her quite literally anything, there's no way she would love him now.

When he tried to woo past female runners, he hoped that one would love him and set him free. He would set her free too and while her heart may be broken, he knew that broken hearts heal. Obviously it didn't work with anyone or else he'd be free. Some were enamored him and head over heels but not in love. No one did. No human. No immortal. No one.

But as time went on, he was a bit more sincere because of his isolation. He was lonely. So, so lonely. And he craved the challenge. Sarah gave him that challenge and even though she was only 16, he could see that she was an equal, something he never really considered anyone who wasn't a royalty to be. His pleas for her were more than wanting to be free, he really wanted for her to be with him.

When he lost to her, it left him weak for a long time. The Labyrinth was not meant to be bested and it's magic was tied with the monarch's. But, it wasn't just that. His pride was hurt but so was his heart. He felt depressed, for she had intrigued him and he was smitten.

Now she was here. He had no idea what to do but he would never admit his loneliness to her. He was too prideful for that.

Sarah nodded. "Sure. Breakfast sounds good."

Okay I have NO IDEA why I started to write a bit about US politics. That was NOT planned, their arguing just sort of evolved into its own thing. I'm keeping it in there because I feel like it fit their arguments, that their argument was not solved by agreeing on politics but more of their situation.

Yes, Jareth had tried to woo runners in the past. But, in my mind, Sarah was the person that he was really sincere and hurt by. Bowie said that Jareth was "smitten" by Sarah, so to me, even if Jareth had started off with just trying to do his part as a king and to be free, that he had somehow liked her. He had become somewhat better from what we saw of him as a prince because he had to take care of runners and the babies, but he still is very much a jerk or at least can be one. I hope you liked this chapter and leave a review! THE MORE REVIEWS THE FASTER I UPDATE