The Chapters of Life

Chapter Fourteen: Under Pressure

It's the terror of knowing what this world is about

Watching some good friends screaming

Let me out

`Queen & David Bowie, Under Pressure

The sun was dazzling, blinding.

Jareth stood on a hill, in front of a labyrinth. Keith was half-kneeling just below him, staring almost hungrily at the labyrinth.

It wasn't his labyrinth; it was not even a true labyrinth in mortal terms. Rather than walls that lined a near-impossible maze like his own, this labyrinth was physically no more than a simple garden, a series of paths lined by hedges that led to the grand Northern Gate of Lwenhyn, a city in the kingdom of white shadows, ruled by his only friend among the fey kings, Harel.

His only friend among the fey kings.

"If the labyrinth had snatched, not even the king himself can get you out of its dark heart, where you'd be trapped, bound tightly by magic that no one controls but simply exists and acts on its own."

"Let's put it this way: I knew I wouldn't be harmed because I did not mean any harm to the kingdom, to the city, or to you."

"Have you seen your father at all, Keith?" Jareth asked, his voice lethally soft.

Keith twisted around to glance at him once, and Jareth recognized the feverish look in the half-fey's eyes. Keith licked his lips a few times before whispering, "Only in dreams."

Jareth did not react, though he was painfully reminded of his own origins. His mouth thinned. "You'll be seeing him soon," he promised him.

Then, without any further ado, he walked into the labyrinth, intending full harm to the kingdom, to the city, and to its king. He did not bother looking back, or even making a smallest gesture, but he felt the boy immediately follow him, agile and lithe.

The moment they stepped into the labyrinth, the magic swirled around them in excitement, its invisible walls distorting and closing around them. Jareth pushed it aside, making room for himself and Keith, and felt the entire labyrinth, the ancient magic that saturated the very air that stretched far across the entire kingdom, react.

Time to go. Jareth picked up speed, forcing his way towards the center. Behind him, he could hear the pounding steps trying to follow him. He did not slow.

Then suddenly there was a disturbance, in which the magic almost keened, and Jareth halted completely to turn back, only to see Keith recklessly tear into a wall, nearly getting killed by a counterattacking blow dealt by the labyrinth.

Snarling, Jareth began to reach for the boy. "You – " Abrupt pain hit him, hard, and Jareth nearly doubled over, and hastily retracted the magic that he had extended towards Keith. A chill settled on him as he realized just how much of his magic had been disrupted, and just how much power Keith wielded. The boy had glanced back at him, just once, before running with all his might towards –

The city, Jareth recognized then, the boy was running for the city, gods knew why. He wondered if he should drag the boy back – powerful for a half-fey or not, weakened by Harel's treachery or not, he could still beat the pulp out of Keith – but turned away without a second thought. He had mainly dragged the boy here so that Sarah would not have to deal with him, and to make the boy face punishment for all the trickery he had done. Now that Keith was trapped in the labyrinth, there wasn't really a reason Jareth had to keep an eye on him – and he had to focus all the magic he had at the moment on important things.

Like getting out alive. Like murdering the king of the land on which he currently stood.

Then there was no more room for such thinking and hesitation, as darkness descended, and he could no longer see the pleasant garden and its low hedges. Magic was thickening around him, becoming tangible, restraining him.

His own magic flared, pushing the magic back, making just enough room for Jareth to take in another breath, just enough space so that he may not completely suffocate in the dark magic that was pressing from every direction.

The labyrinths weren't placed to protect our kingdoms for nothing. Their very nature is to keep evil trapped within it, and the evil has been only increasing throughout the millenniums… By now, they're saturated with evil, steeped in darkness. Not even we can say if one isn't innately evil…

He gave a short laugh. Everywhere he looked, darkness hovered, longing to completely overcome him so that it may throw this threat to its king into its dark heart, the biggest oubliette, and keep him there forever.

His own magic was fighting desperately keep the labyrinth's magic an inch away from his skin, so that he could breathe and survive.

The fey king, the goblin king, caught in the labyrinthine magic of another…

He looked around. He had no idea where to go, except –

The goblin king, caught in the magic of another…

Because the goblin king was such a great threat to the king of the labyrinth, and because so much was involved – two kings fighting, after all, meant that two kingdoms were very well close to warring themselves, which included the labyrinths that were the essence of the power the kings held – it meant that Harel had to be in the centre, controlling the magic of the labyrinth, right now. Otherwise there would be no guarantee that Harel's labyrinth would strike out at Jareth's own, and begin a war involving all the magic that resided in the two kingdoms, which presumably wasn't Harel's objective. Presumably.

So Harel was in the center, he was stuck here, and Keith was gods knew where.

Well, then.

He closed his eyes. His magic flared up, a bursting of power that blazed, once, like a flame.

Then it died off completely.

Jareth felt the darkness eagerly cover him completely, consuming him, snaring him. He felt the magic he had contained in himself flicker, as if about to die.

He let it go.

His last thought before his conscious was completely lost was to hope that Sarah had gotten out of his labyrinth, by now.

J Y S

A flick of her wrist, and Sarah was in the throne room.

She gripped the throne, needing to steady herself. But even more than the need to fight off the nausea that was growing in her was the need to get out.

She'd promised, after all…

But more than that promise, something in her was screaming at her, telling her to get out, now.

Spotting the huge double doors on the other side of the room, Sarah crossed the room in a jumble of stumbling steps and went out, coming directly to the outside of the castle.

Her breath caught. It all looked so familiar – it all looked the same as it had then, the labyrinth.

Stay out of the labyrinth, Sarah.

She felt a strange sensation – was this what they described as a sixth sense? There was a heightened awareness of everything that was going around her, something that had not existed just a few seconds ago.

It very well could be the result of having just chosen to be the lover of the goblin king – the king who ruled the kingdom she was in now, she realized.

That new awareness was screaming at her to get out.

After a short pause, Sarah whispered, "Come on, then, feet."

She set out onto the twisting and turning pathways of the labyrinth.

J Y S

"I did warn you."

Jareth opened his eyes.

Harel was watching him, impassively. "The labyrinth is dark – evil. It will snatch, and contain in itself whatever it considers a threat to itself, the kingdom, and… me."

"You also said you would not be able to help anyone the labyrinth had decided to snatch," Jareth said, his voice hoarse. He struggled to his feet. They were standing on a hill, far away from where he had been, far away from Lwenhyn, but still inside the magic of the labyrinth.

Harel stood where he was, a few paces away. He appraised the goblin king for a moment, then shrugged. "I lied."

"Indeed." Jareth kept his voice even.

"So you realized it, have you?" Harel said, just as evenly. "I'd sometimes wondered if you would, but didn't think that you actually would realize anything… I wonder if you had help?"

"Your own fault, for not keeping better care and notice of your whelps," the goblin king bit out.

Harel's eyes widened imperceptibly, then he shrugged. "I see." He turned away, as if not quite caring.

"I realize what you've done," Jareth said.

Harel was now surveying his kingdom, standing to the side. "Yes, we've established that already," he said calmly.

Jareth came to stand by his side, though he watched the older fey king, not his kingdom. "You've blocked the labyrinth from me – partially, for now, but the block is growing with time. And you've done it quite well – it won't be reversed by my magic."

"In all probability, no," Harel agreed.

"And," Jareth went on conversationally, "Once it's completely blocked, I'll have lost the title of king in all but name. The goblin kingdom will, in essence, have a king no more. I'll be back to being a half-fey – worse, actually, than what I had been before I became king, because I'm older now, and my mortal blood will be tugging at me every second."

"That's as may be."

A smile came to the goblin king's mouth, his teeth glinting, once. "So in order for me to live – I have to kill you."

A silence stretched out between them.

With a sigh, Harel turned to face him. "Jareth, you're in my kingdom, in my labyrinth, without a way to fully access your own power. Even if you had your full power, it's doubtful whether you'll succeed in harming me completely when you're in my labyrinth – the best you might have hoped for would be getting away alive. As it is, without your full power…" Harel shrugged.

There was a short, short pause.

Jareth slammed all magic he had into the fey king in front of him.

Harel blocked the magic easily, not even raising an eyebrow. The air around them was immediately buzzing, as the labyrinth was reacting once more to the threat to its king – but this time, this time it was under the king's control, and it did not leap to Jareth's throat immediately, as much as it evidently longed to.

"Jareth –"

The goblin king ignored his words. Instead, he reached back, as far back as he could, into his own labyrinth, grabbed whatever magic he could find, and drew upon it as he channeled that power as well into his attack Harel.

Harel kept up the shield, though he now took a graceful step backwards. A look of concentration passed him, as he began to draw on his own labyrinth as well, and Jareth felt the shield thicken impossibly, as every tendril of magic in immediate surrounding rushed to the king's aid.

He kept up his own attack, pressing as hard as he could, biting away at any slip that he could find.

"I didn't think it would come to this, Jareth," Harel said quietly, watching the younger fey king snarling at him in fury, in frustration as he could not get through the magic. His armour was beginning to tear away, his cloak ripping, his sword hanging uselessly. "You weren't supposed to realize it – you would have just stepped out of power, and my youngest daughter's husband would step in place…"

Ah, a voice said at the back of Jareth's mind, the part that wasn't totally devoted to ripping apart the fey that stood in front of him like the rest was. So that was why…

"In honest truth," Harel went on, just as quietly, as he began to push back, intending to end this now. "I'd rather hoped she'd marry you – but she was in love… some human boy… and then I realized that that boy was the son of one of your father's 'whelps', and I saw what could happen…"

Jareth was not, could not be, listening to what Harel was saying. Everything around him was beginning to press down on him, like an enormous tsunami of power, now, and he fought not to lose his consciousness, keeping his focus –almost there, almost there…

"No matter, now," Harel finished. He looked at the goblin king for a heartbeat, then closed his eyes.

The ancient magic of Lwenhyn's labyrinth swept down to completely end Jareth's life.

J Y S

Sarah was leaning against the tree, on the hill where Jareth had told her what her task would be, two years ago.

She didn't understand what was happening, not truly, but the entire labyrinth seemed to be trembling, and she was feeling its apprehension and struggle as well… as if she was part of it now, part of the Underground, of the goblin kingdom.

She shivered.

Then a huge, thundering crack was heard, and the labyrinth seemed to almost sink.

She did not have nearly enough time, however, to recover from the shock of what had just happened -

"Sarah?"

At that familiar voice, Sarah whipped her head around, to find a dwarf staring up at her with a stupefied expression.

"Hoggle," she choked, then went on her knees to hug him tightly.

She did not let him go for a long, long time.

J Y S

As the magic swept down, Jareth felt his own existence ripple, as if about to be destroyed completely –

Then he drew back his magic, all his magic, which had been focused into one purpose as he had attacked Harel, and reached out, delving in deep into the magic that was trying to kill him, and twisted.

Harel recoiled, a spasm going through his body as his magic was unraveled, and blood spurted from his mouth.

Feeling as if his body was about to be ripped into pieces, Jareth closed his eyes against the pain as he turned all magic back to Harel, whose shield was dissolving.

The older fey king brought the shield back up just in place, as the two forces crashed. The impact sent him reeling. It was only some time later that Harel opened his eyes, and stared at Jareth, who was also trying to collect his breathing.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"How…" Harel exhaled, feeling his magic scattered all over the place.

Jareth's face twisted. "You're not the only one who had been observing and learning when in another's labyrinth," he said, quietly, venomously. "When I was here, I observed your labyrinth well – how its magic is structured, how it flows, how it twists and turns." He took a deep breath, then straightened, sending a cold stare, his mouth contorting into a grotesque imitation of a smile. "Like any other labyrinth, once you know the way, it's easy to solve."

"And besides, after the barest glimpse at a labyrinth, a fey king would know its most intimate workings."

"Impressive," Harel snarled, a short laugh that turned into a grimace distorting his face. He shook his head, and the air changed again, as the scattered magic began to focus again. "However, even if you can find the way, you can't dispel it completely."

"Perhaps not," Jareth said slowly. Then he bared his teeth. "But next time you draw upon on your power, I can twist your magic again, perhaps enough to reach through your defense and rip you apart." All he needed to do was find one opening, just one. Perhaps others might not be able to, but weakened or not, he was the goblin king, and just one attack would be enough.

Harel's eyes darkened. There was truth in the goblin king's words, and he knew it. "I can also kill you before you can do any twisting."

"Try it, then," Jareth said.

Both kings were still.

Finally, Harel spoke. "Believe me, Jareth, when I say that either way, you lose." He shook his head. "My heir is in my kingdom, right now. Even if you kill me, you won't stay alive. What would happen to that girl, your new bride and queen, when that happens?"

Jareth's answer was a snort. "I know the problems you've been having with your heirs," he said, his voice not wavering. "The one you have now – how old is he? Two? Four? Ten? Much too young, to be able to inherit this labyrinth."

"Just go back, Jareth, go back now," Harel insisted, his voice an invitation. "You wanted to be with that girl… Go back now, and make her fey before it's too late. I promise I won't interfere while she's running the labyrinth… Then you two can be fey, and lovers together – and my daughter can be happy with her lover, as well. You did not want to be the king of the goblin kingdom in the first place. You can be happy, now…"

Turn back, Sarah, turn back before it's too late…

Jareth took a step forward. "I'm getting impatient, Harel," he whispered. "Do you wish for me to drag your own magic back together, and unravel the labyrinth completely? Because if you don't –"

Whatever he had been about to say was lost as the labyrinth suddenly ripped the very air in a shriek of outrage, a violent trembling of the magic that swept through the entire kingdom like an earthquake, cracking the very ground. Harel doubled over in pain, as if the magic residing in him was raging as well.

The magic tore at Jareth as well, and he could not find any way to unravel it as he had done before, as there was no order to magic now, just an outraged jumble to power – and through the confusion and pain, he contemplated just finishing off the older fey king, who seemed in no condition to fight back –

When something was tossed between them, falling on the ground with a thud.

The goblin king instinctively brought up his magic, then faltered, as his eyes caught sight of just what it was. Nausea hit him, even harder than Harel's magic.

Harel saw it as well, and instantly choked. "My gods–"

Jareth could not take his eyes away from the gruesome sight. "Is that…"

"My son," Harel did not even appear to be aware of anything around him, even as footsteps that were not the goblin king's approached them.

Bile rose in his throat as Jareth turned to the one who was now stopping just a few steps away, the one who he knew must have thrown it between them.

"One of your sons," Keith said quietly, staring at the fey king. "Only one."

The labyrinth howled its rage, and the magic strained to tear at Keith, the murderer of its king's heir. The boy paid no attention, not taking his eyes off his father.

Pale with anger and pain, Harel stepped towards his son, on whom he had never before laid his eyes, not even magically. "You," he hissed. His eyes flickered to Jareth once before returning to Keith. "You're the whelp who told him, I suppose – you – my son –"

"I'm your son as well," Keith spat. "You just never bothered to even check on my mother afterwards – father."

"If I ever did get to see him," Jareth growled, "I would be too busy killing him for what he'd done to ask any insipid questions about whether he cared. He obviously hadn't."

Jareth fought to keep his balance, blocking the memory out with a clench of his teeth as the labyrinth called for blood, the blood of the treacherous son.

"And what do you suppose your father would say to that?"

"You," Harel said with contempt. He stood without any signs of pain now. "Anything of power you have is due to me – if you weren't a dreamwalker, you wouldn't know anything about magic – the very fact that you're alive is due to me, and my blood."

Keith glared at him with all the hatred of the bastard son who had wallowed in his misery for years. "I hate you," he hissed, his magic rising – his magic, so laughably small and feeble in the presence of two fey kings.

Jareth had had enough.

He strode forward, his magic surging with each of his step, as crippled as it was –

Harel flatly pushed back at him without even glancing back, his anger being focused on his son in front of him –

With a grit of his teeth, Jareth shoved past the magic, and before either Harel or Keith could say any more idiotic things, he pulled his sword free.

"For now, your magic can't stop swords. And there may come a time when you have to rely on means other than magic – for instance, if you were going to fight someone who was your equal or superior in magic, having any kind of additional skill would come in handy indeed."

Harel's magic was spiraling out of control, now, from the labyrinth's going wild over the death of its crown prince, and from his own fury – he was in no condition to focus, or face two adversaries at the same time, as weak as one of them was –

Jareth stopped right behind Harel, who was turning around with horror only beginning to dawn on his face –

One opening, that was all he needed, one opening.

Dimly, he heard him cry out, "Jareth, wait –"

He brought the sword down.

J Y S

"Sarah, what are you doing here?"

Hoggle's question brought her mind back to the situation like nothing else could.

"Jareth sent me here," Sarah said, looking frenzied. She twisted around to look at the sun, which was almost set, now.

"Tonight, Sarah, it has to be tonight…"

"He did?" The dwarf's eyes widened. "What – for what, Sarah?" He looked around, suddenly nervous. "Where is he?"

Sarah opened her mouth – then closed it.

She had never, not once, called her friends the past five months, she realized with a jolt.

She had never told them about her and Jareth, either – the strange things in her life, the bracelet, the book, the owl – not once.

"Oh, Hoggle," she whispered, and hugged him close, again. Tears leaked from beneath her eyelids. "I wish I knew."

J Y S

The magic itself seemed to fall apart as the sword sliced into Harel, silencing his words forever.

Jareth twisted, making sure of his job, then roughly pulled his sword free.

All around them, everything had gone completely quiet and still.

"Is he…" Keith's question died in his throat. Finally, the boy had the sense of mind to look completely terrified, as he stared at the sight of two dead bodies with huge eyes.

Jareth barely spared the boy a glance as he wiped his sword on the ground before putting it back into its scabbard. Testing, he reached for his labyrinth, and his magic rushed to his fingertips, a refreshing and awakening sensation, once again complete.

The labyrinth around them began to stir.

Jareth stepped back from the body. Time was still running out – he had to leave, now.

A crystal appeared in his hand, and he prepared to turn it, to go back to his labyrinth, where Sarah was waiting…

"Wait."

He glanced at the boy who was staring at him.

"What… what happens now?" Keith sounded lost.

The labyrinth was beginning to mount in power.

"You would be a lost orphan, who had just killed a king."

Jareth spoke for the first time. "Run," he said flatly. "As fast as you can."

The labyrinth's magic rose to claim the wayward son who had just been responsible for the death of its royal family, overcoming the boy easily.

The sinner had to pay.

Leaving behind the screaming boy, Jareth transported himself to his kingdom.

I promised, didn't I? *grins*

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. As you've probably figured out, most of the italics are flashbacks from earlier chapters.

I'm curious now... how do you feel about Keith? I know he was hated before for getting between Sarah and Jareth *grins* but it was revealed last chapter that he's not just an evil character trying to mess up their lives... or, you know, at least not romantically... then we come to this chapter. Who thinks he should still be flattened under a bus?

Anyways, thank you for reading! Cheers! :)