Thanks to the great Sennethe for beta-ing this chapter. I'd also like to send a shout-out to yodeladyhoo for her critique as well. And of course to my reviewers and lurkers.
And now for Chapter Seven...
His groaning stopped suddenly and I really freaked. I ran around to his other side and pulled off my back-pack hoping to find something that would help.
Now, I know most girls would have done something rather different if they were in my situation, but I wasn't most girls. I would have just left him there honestly, except for the fact I was feeling pretty guilty. I had read that you weren't supposed to use SING unless you were really in danger.
I dug in my pack for a bottle of water and some ibuprofen. I then remembered that you can't force feed pills when someone is unconscious.
But what if I had killed him? I kneeled next to him and noticed his chest moving. That was good and I switched his position to the recovery position, thanking the red-cross babysitter's course I had taken years ago. As he was in a semi-fetal position, I moved his lower arm under his head, and his other in front of him. I pushed lightly on his knees (I didn't really want to be touching him) so that they weren't pulled tight up against his body.
Then came the waiting part. I knew I was wasting time to be helping him, but it would really go against my morals to leave him. Perhaps, if he had known I had er, waited he would be more lenient in punishment?
I really should run for it, I thought. I was just a sitting duck waiting here.
But there was nothing to be done. I tilted my head to the side and looked at him. He had changed his clothes unsurprisingly. When he was unconscious he seemed to be more relaxed. I doubted he felt relaxed now, or when he woke up but his face wasn't as hard when he was out of it.
But time was a-wasting! Damn the consequences, he should have been up by now.
"Er, Your Majesty?" I tried. He didn't move.
"Your Highness?" I tried again. Nothing.
"Goblin King?" Nada.
I winced and said, "Jareth?" Nothing happened which I was very grateful for. Didn't calling someone by name put you under their power or something?
I was out of names to call him out of his slumber by and I had this fear of touching him – even though I had just moved him into the recovery position minutes ago. Don't ask why, I wasn't sure myself, but I didn't want to touch him.
I sighed, "Look Goblin King. It would benefit everyone if you would just wake up now. I'm sorry and all, but I really have to get going and save Case and Jenny. They do mean a lot to me – I've got to get them. However, you had to show up and scare the bejeebers out of me, so we're stuck here. Now would be an excellent time to get up – you'd get to antagonize me, and I'd get to get going."
Nothing happened again. "Oh, damn it all. Just wake up already your Royal Tightiness!"
The Goblin King shot up and yelled, "THEY'RE NOT TIGHTS, DAMN IT!"
I winced at how loud he was, as he winced at the pain, but didn't collapse again.
However, his look was one of pure murder.
"Er, so you're up now?" I offered. "At least now I know how to get you up if you fall unconscious again."
"You brought this upon me," He said accusatively.
"Not really," I shrugged. "You should know better than to sneak up on a twenty-first century girl. We tend to be violent"
"Well, I'll keep that in mind then," he groaned as getting up. "You're the first that I've met." He limped over to the wall of the corridor and leaned against it.
"No way," I said in disbelief. "Girls wish away people all the time because of the movie. I'm sure you've met some in the past eight years."
His eye-brow went up, "You are the first since the Last Champion to come across the words. All others use the words in the film."
Oh. That explained things, I thought from my seat on the floor. "You're rather lucky," I said without thinking.
His look was unreadable. "What do you mean, lucky?"
I pulled out two pills from the bottle and then put it back in my bag. "You're lucky that you got me to run the Labyrinth instead of the other fan-girls. I doubt you would ever have seen the light of day again if they had shown up." I stood, bottle and pills in hand. "Then you would have had no time with Sarah."
"What do you mean, Sarah?"
I furrowed my brow, "Well, she must be seeing you now or something, right? And you're probably busy with Toby."
"Seeing?" He asked confusedly.
"Yeah," I said obviously. "Dating, or she's the Goblin Queen, right?"
Crap, I've done it now, I thought as his face became incredibly stony.
"The Last Champion," he said slowly, "is happily married with two children. Aboveground. She has never tried to contact me or I her since her time running the Labyrinth." There was no emotion at all in his tone.
"Sorry," I said, embarrassed. "It was in the Manga – not that I read it."
"Manga?"
"Comic book," I offered.
The Goblin King shook his head and his eye caught on what was in my hand. "What is that?" he asked.
I glanced down. "Oh, right. Here this should help," I held out the pills and the bottle of water.
He didn't take it.
"It's ibuprofen," I said rolling my eyes. "It'll help with the pain."
Eye-brow, up. "I have no need for mortal foolishness." The Goblin King scoffed.
Annoying men who can't take help when it's given and waste my time!
Pain surrounded him. It engulfed him. It swallowed him. It was everywhere.
Well, he supposed it wasn't actually, but he felt like it was. Jareth didn't know what the girl, Elisa, had done to him, but he hurt, damn it.
He could hear her muttering. He hoped she was feeling guilty – she had harmed the Goblin King!
He felt his arms being moved to under his head. He could tell that she was trying to touch as little of him as possible. Why?
Jareth continued to pretend that he was unconscious. He was interested in what this girl would do now – though if she did try anything he was ready to transport her into the nearest oubliette.
However, she seemed to do nothing but sit there staring at him. Finally she slammed her hands on the ground and called, "Your Majesty?"
Lying still and pretending he hadn't heard her was simple. Jareth had to admit she got a few points for being polite.
"Your Highness?" The worry had entered her voice again. Honestly, Jareth thought but he remained still.
"Goblin King?" Or was it annoyance in her voice? He couldn't tell but antagonizing her was a simple way to get back. Not that this was his only plan at getting revenge… this was just the start.
Elisa sighed slightly before saying very warily, "Jareth?" That almost surprised him out of his act of unconsciousness. How did she know his name? Oh, yes, Hogskin or whatever his name had been had used it during the Last Champion's journey. But why didn't Elisa call him by it if she knew it? All of his subjects had no fear of calling him by name – but the runners always referred to him as his title.
Well, points to her for being courteous, thought one part of his mind. The part that was almost affected by the clause.
The girl sighed in exasperation before saying, "Look Goblin King. It would benefit everyone if you would just wake up now. I'm sorry and all but I really have to get going and save Case and Jenny. They do mean a lot to me – I've got to get them. However, you had to show up and scare the bejeebers out of me, so we're stuck here. Now would be an excellent time to get up – you'd get to antagonize me, and I'd get to get going."
Jareth stayed still, quite liking how annoyed she was getting. But if he popped up and scared her again would she perform another form of self-defense?
"Oh, damn it all," Elisa sighed in exasperation. "Just wake up already, Your Royal Tightiness."
He couldn't control himself at that. Jareth shot up at that and yelled, "THEY'RE NOT TIGHTS, DAMN IT!"
Jareth would have laughed at her wincing at his voice, but he was wincing himself in pain. Fates above, that girl knew where to aim her foot in order to get the maximum amount of pain out of him.
He recovered his face, and shot her his best glare.
Elisa's eyes widened but she said nervously, "Er, so you're up now? At least now I know how to get you up if you fall unconscious again."
His eyes narrowed. "You brought this upon me." The Goblin King did NOT fall unconscious at whim. Though it was only for a few moments…
They exchanged petty banter, for a while. Jareth payed little attention to what was said – he was trying as best he could to mask his discomfort and pain. He was succeeding he knew, but it was taking up more of his concentration then he liked. In a still only semi-conscious part of his brain, Jareth couldn't help noticing how the light from the sconces reflected off of Elisa's brown hair. It made it look like she had been misted with gold…
"You're rather lucky," Elisa said suddenly, looking at him.
Jareth kept his expression carefully controlled. Him, lucky? He was king of the Goblins and had to rule this labyrinth where hundreds of rules must be followed –that even controlled whom he fell in love with. "What do you mean lucky?"
She turned away and fiddled with something in her bag. "You're lucky that you got me to run the Labyrinth instead of the other fan-girls. I doubt you would ever have seen the light of day again if they had shown up." Was she 'flirting' with him by saying she was better than all the other fan girls? But he forgot that as she added, "Then you would have had no time with Sarah."
This time he barely was able to control his emotions. "What do you mean, Sarah?"
Elisa's brow furrowed, "Well, she must be seeing you now or something, right? And you're probably busy with Toby."
"Seeing?" What did she mean?
"Yeah," she said as if it was obvious. "Dating, or she's the Goblin Queen, right?"
She thought Sarah and him had… Where had she gotten such an idea? He felt his face harden and he said expressionlessly and slowly, "The Last Champion is happily married with two children. Above-ground. She had never tried to contact me or I her since her time running the Labyrinth. " Though he had waited all that last evening to see if she would call. He had thought her different than the others when she kept talking to her friends for a few years, but like the others she had forgotten - though not before selling the script off to the production studios.
"Sorry," she said as if embarrassed. "It was in the Manga – not that I read it."
"Manga?" What was that?
"Comic book," she offered.
Jareth shook his head; this was all too confusing. He had come down here to antagonize her and now she was discovering more and more about him… "What is that?"
He gestured towards the brown circles in her hand.
She seemed almost surprised to find it in her hand, "Oh, right. Here, this should help." She held out the brown things and a plastic bottle of liquid.
Jareth didn't take it. Were they pellets?
"It's ibuprofen," she said rolling her eyes. "It'll help with the pain."
The pain which he had been able to ignore before arrived back ten-fold. But he was Fey; he wouldn't resort to such mortal foolishness and told her so.
Elisa glared at him for a moment before sighing as if giving up. She pulled off her backpack and took a bottle which she poured the pills back into. She threw the bottle of water back in as well after giving it a longing glance.
He couldn't stop himself for asking, "Why don't you drink it?"
Elisa rolled her eyes. "I don't know how long I'm going to be stuck in this part of the Labyrinth. Besides, I can't count on the fact that you won't use your crystals to be a peeping Tom."
She then seemed to realize what she had just said and her face turned white.
Jareth laughed. Loudly and for a good while. When he finally stopped, Elisa just looked at him embarrassedly before setting her chin.
"Well," she said. "If you're done taunting me, I have better things to do." She mocked a curtsy before turning away.
"Ah," he said walking up to her, wincing at every step but ignoring it mostly. "But I'm not done Elisa, I've just started."
Was that a growl of frustration from her? "Fine," she scoffed. "It's your Labyrinth anyway. It's not like I could stop you if I wanted to. However, if you want to annoy me you're going to have to follow me. I'm not going to stand around and let you get to me."
Thus said, she started to walk down the corridor, where it currently forked left.
Jareth followed, laughing silently at her actions. She was currently going away from the castle. Oh, Elisa, he thought. You really are just a stubborn child.
A/N: And that would be Chapter Seven! Next chapter will have Jareth definition of his 'tights', annoyances, and wailing.
Please take the time to review!
Posted: 5-8-2008