Disclaimer: Still don't own it (such a pity) Still make no profit (what a shame)
A/N: As always, I am a slave to your reviews, they fuel my drive and inspirations, also, they make me giddy like a school girl, so keep 'em coming you lovely people. On a side note, I have heard about a new Labyrinth movie, a continuation, not a remake, I don't know how I feel about this. My heart breaks at the thought of the story going on without Bowie, however, life does go on as he himself showed us in the fabulous album Blackstar that he gifted us with before his death.
Mac looked around as he appeared in the library of Jareth's castle. Turning slowly, he watched as one by one everyone's above glamour faded, finally he stood before Sarah, mouth agape as he took in her appearance. Winged brow, pointed ears and bright eyes, one pupil overly large.
"Miss Williams…" He began.
Sarah stopped him, holding up a hand, "Please, call me Sarah." She said gently, drawing him over to the book, opened on Jareth's desk. "I understand that you have a million questions, Mac." She said softly, keeping his attention on her, hoping he wouldn't let the otherness of his current situation drown him. "But I must ask that you focus on a task for me." At his nod, Sarah beamed a lovely smile at him. Enjoying the way his warm, golden Aura enveloped her in a feeling of well-being. "I need you to read the text on this page for me." She said, drawing his attention down to the passages opened before him.
"Hey," he said excitedly, "I know this story."
"You do?" Sarah questioned, looking at the book, seeing no stories, only random lines, disjointed and undecipherable.
"Well, sure," Mac responded. "Every Irish child worth his salt has heard the stories of The Sluagh."
A collective gasp rang out around the Fae in the room, all but Sarah cast furtive glances over their shoulders, only Sarah looked confused.
"What are The Sluagh?" She asked.
"My Queen!" Liam exclaimed, "You must not speak their name!"
Jareth let out an exasperated sigh, "Come now!" He said harshly, "Surely you lot aren't frightened of a story!"
Sarah merely smirked at her husband and raised a brow at him, chastised he muttered, "Well, you weren't frightened of me."
"Mac," Sarah said patiently, "Let's pretend that no one else in this room can read that text. Tell me the story."
"Well," Mac began, "My mother used to tell me this story as a child. Although, looking back, it doesn't seem like a story to tell a child. Most Fairy Tales aren't." He continued, giving Jareth a look when he snorted at the term 'Fairy Tale'. "Hey, glitter boy," Mac sneered, "You want to tell this?"
"By all means," Jareth drawled lazily, "Continue."
"As I was saying, my mother used to tell the tale, her mother told it to her, so on and so forth. It was used more as a cautionary tale. Make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be there." Looking down at the text before him, Mac nodded his head, saying, "Yep, this is familiar." Sarah looked over his shoulder, only seeing a few lines here and there, obviously there was text that was not visible to her. "So The Sluagh are creatures of the shadows. They are the cursed dead, the souls that even Satan in Hell doesn't want. They search the world for souls that are easy pickings. They don't care if you're good, evil or somewhere in between, if they think they can get you, they'll have you." Sighing heavily, he looked around at the Fae gathered there, "That's what those things were on the street, isn't it?" He sat down on Jareth's chair, placing his head in his hands and let out a deep sigh. "I don't understand why you guys are so scared of them." He cocked his head to the side, "Magic should protect you right?" Then, pointing a finger at Jareth, he said, "I know you Goblin King."
Jareth looked at Mac, an appraising expression on his face, "And just how is that, Detective?" He asked, a condescending smirk on his face.
"And why shouldn't I, then?" Mac said, a faint brogue coming out in his voice. "I, being a good Irishman, listening to the words of me gran." Standing and facing Jareth, he smiled and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I have nothing to fear from you Fae King, I have no child to wish away and am long past being a wished away myself. You guys are immortal, what could you fear?"
"There are some fates worse than death," Liam said.
"Mac," Sarah said, "Does it say how to defeat them?"
Mac looked back at the book, scanning through, "It just says something about pure golden light and a pure heart. Whatever that means."
Sarah looked at Jareth and then back at Mac, pity in her eyes and a sad smile on her face. "I think I do, Mac." She said softly, watching the golden glow of his Aura swirl around him.
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Coop stood in the kitchen of his cramped 3rd floor walkup. With shaking hands, he reached for a glass, not caring that it was dirty and poured it full of whiskey. Looking around with bloodshot eyes, he downed the whiskey in one long drink, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. In a fit of rage, he threw the glass against the wall, hearing the satisfying sound of glass shattering, he smiled thinly, grabbed the bottle and went into the living room.
Fucking bastard Mac, he thought to himself, slumping down onto his battered lazy boy. We could have been Gods! Instead, Coop was one step away from being made a memory by some very nasty creatures.
"Not even a memory," he mumbled to himself, taking a swig from the bottle.
He was so caught up in his own thoughts and misery, he never noticed the oily, slick shadows creeping in through the open window. Too busy muttering to himself, he never heard the hissing whispers. Taking a long pull from the whiskey bottle, his screams were drowned in the liquid as the shadows moved away, dragging him with them.
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Jareth's mother, Gwendolyn, paced her chambers. She had promised her son that she would bring the scroll for him to read, she was just unsure if that was the right thing to do. She knew he thought the scroll was about Sarah, maybe it was, she didn't think so. She was waiting for an audience with The Fates before she took the scroll to The Goblin City.
"What if I'm wrong?" She muttered to herself. "What if the scroll is about Sarah and they've made a horrible mistake?" Pacing back and forth, she never noticed her husband walk through the door.
"My dear," he said gently, "You will wear a path in that lovely rug."
At the sound of his voice, Gwendolyn started in surprise. "Fergus, I didn't hear you come in."
"Your mind is elsewhere; you wouldn't have noticed a herd of Unicorns prancing through your chambers." He responded, wrapping his arms around her to still her pacing. "Come, tell me what has you so troubled."
With a heavy sigh, she joined her husband at the window seat, looking into his eyes, she was reminded of how much he looked like Jareth. His hair not as wild, but the same tall, slender and graceful stature. The same stubborn tilt to the chin, the same look in his eye of a secret he knew that was just bursting to get out. Leaning in, she brushed a kiss across his lips.
"What's this then?" He asked, playful amusement making his eyes dance and his lips twitch.
"My Lord, I am afraid that I have kept something from you all these many years." She said sadly, looking down at her hands.
"Ah, a lover then?" He asked playfully, "Well, point the scoundrel out, I shall dispatch of him immediately and we will never speak of it again."
"Fergus, I'm serious." She replied firmly.
Something about the tone of her voice stopped him. She didn't want to play this time and that was unusual for her. "What's this then, my love? Why so sad and serious?" He asked, lifting her chin with his fingers until she was looking at him once more.
"I have in my possession a scroll," she began, "One that speaks of the fate of a Queen forged in battle and her mortal consort."
"Ah, that old thing? I've known about it for years," he scoffed. "What does that have to do with you? Why does it make you so sad?"
"But…how…" she stuttered.
"Your son has a big mouth when he's had too much goblin ale," Fergus said, laughing heartily.
"Jareth thinks it's about Sarah," Gwendolyn said sadly, "What if he's right? If it is about Sarah, then he isn't her soul mate, their love was not meant to be. It would destroy him." She cried, hugging her husband tightly to her.
"So you grieve for his heartache that has not happened yet?" He asked her, at her sound of affirmation, he set her back from him and looked into her eyes, saying firmly, "Stop that."
She blinked in surprise, having expected him to sooth her, "What?" She asked.
"You heard me," he said, a little more gently. "Why you and other women folk put so much stock in those scrolls I'll never know." He said brusquely, taking her hand firmly in his. "Now, you listen to me, that scroll may or may not be about Sarah, that doesn't mean that she and Jareth have made a mistake or that they are not meant to be."
"But it talks of her mortal consort," Gwendolyn protested.
"When have you known The Fates to be so very literal?" He asked. "For all you know, whatever madness they are currently going through, a mortal will help them through." Rising and turning to look out the window, Fergus let out a forceful sigh. "He reordered time for that girl, moved the very stars for her." Turning to look at his wife, he smirked in the exact fashion of the Goblin King, "You think he can't change their Fate as well?" Laughing he pulled her into his arms and gave her a lusty kiss. "Precious, you haven't seen anything yet, just wait. Take them the scroll, let us see how they interpret it. I would imagine that cagey maze will have something to say as well."
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Mac looked at Sarah and Jareth, the expressions on their face told him he would probably not like what he was about to hear, but the question needed to be asked anyway.
"You two are going to ask me to put my life on the line, aren't you?" He asked gruffly.
"I know it's a lot to ask, Mac," Sarah said softly. "I just don't see any other way."
"Hey," he responded lightly, "Protect and Serve, right?"
"Good man." Jareth said grimly.
In a shower of glitter, Siobhan appeared, holding a visibly injured Seamus in her arms. "My Lord," she said to Jareth, "Aldric attacked Seamus as he was trying to follow him and learn the location of his hiding place." Handing Seamus off to one of the other men, Siobhan turned, looking directly at Mac. "Well, hello there," she said, smiling at him.
Mac stood dumbstruck. She had to be the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. As her above ground glamour slipped away, took in her shining strawberry blond hair, looking like burnished copper and her tall slender build. Swallowing hard, he reached out his large hand to take her delicate one and brush a kiss across the back.
"I'm very pleased to meet you, My Lady." He said gallantly.
Jareth cleared his throat, "Yes, well then," he said stiffly, "Perhaps we should all retire to the dining hall and have a bit of food as we make our plans."
Mac held out an arm to Siobhan, laughing she took it, saying, "Thank you, kind sir."
Jareth and Liam shared a glare over Sarah's head, Sarah just grabbed them both by the arm and drug them toward the door. "Oh, for crying out loud!" She muttered, turning to fix a steely gaze on them she said, "Behave yourselves! I mean it! If Mac and Siobhan want to flirt, let them." Pointing a finger at Jareth, she hissed at him, "You have no room to talk, glitter boy, you launched a full scale seduce and conquer on me in the middle of all of this." Liam snorted at Jareth being called 'glitter boy', earning him a pointed glare from the Goblin King. "We all have enough sorrow for now. Let them have some fun." She finished, turning and walking out the door, leaving Jareth and Liam behind.
"Glitter boy," Liam chuckled.
They all gathered in the dining hall. The kitchen goblins had put together a fine feast for them, Seamus, recently returned from the healer, looked slightly out of it, but ate non the less. Sarah watched Liam walk over to where Siobhan and Mac were seated, as he turned to great Fiona, Sarah noticed a donkey tail coming out from under his tunic to trail down to his ankles. Listening carefully, she noticed his laugh at something Fiona said, sounded suspiciously like a bray.
Jareth came to stand next to her and put an arm around his shoulder, punching him lightly in the side, she asked, "Am I mistaken, or is Liam part donkey?"
Jareth gave her a sow smile and responded, "If it acts like an ass…." Throwing his head back, he laughed at Sarah's indignant expression.
"I'm working with toddlers," she muttered, but couldn't help but smile a little at the hint of long ears on Liam's head.
Moving as one, they stepped up to the table to join the others for their meal. Right now, they would hold off on talking of the horror that had been and that was yet to come. They would take a few minutes of relaxed comradery before they had to plan an offensive. Mac smiled from ear to ear at Siobhan, his wide gently face relaxed and happy, Sarah made a mental note to ask him about his scar. Fiona helped Seamus fill his plate from the platters spread out on the table. Fussing over him like a mother hen. The other agents, Patrick, Daniel, Kerrigan, and Brian all moved around the room, seemingly relaxed, but watching everything. Goblins came in and out, refilling drinks and removing empty platters.
Looking up at Jareth, Sarah said, "We have to win this."
Following her gaze, he gave her a kiss on top of her head and replied, "We will."