Triss SkyLark: thank you very much
Labyrinth Mistress: again, thanks. I really appreciate it
The Fool-Proof Plan
"Well, what do you think of Sarah, Father?" Kera asked, sitting with Kira in front of the fireplace. She was braiding her brother's hair; he was helpless on his own!
"Well, it is very obvious that Jareth loves her, though he is trying to deny it…and I believe that she loves him, though she doesn't seem to know it herself" Drake said thoughtfully.
"I aggress. Jareth loves her dearly. Otherwise he wouldn't have allowed her to stay or followed her for five years" Kira said.
"Yes, but how do we get them to realize their love for each other?" Drake said, standing and pacing the floor.
Underground desperately needed a Queen, not to mention an heir.
All was silent for many long moments as they thought of a plan.
"Why not just pull a jealousy plot?" asked a voice high above them.
Kira, Kera, and Drake all looked up and saw a woman there, with shoulder length ivory hair, sitting atop the chandelier.
"Zyla! Stop monkeying around!" scolded a female voice from a doorway in the shadows.
"Oh, but I haven't even started!" Zyla said happily, hanging by one hand from the candle chandelier.
"Come one, Zyla. Cut it out" said a male voice. It was slightly bemused.
"You and Zylina are no fun!" Zyla said, floating gracefully to the floor.
"Papa!" called a much younger voice. A young girl appeared behind Drake.
"Shi!" he said, dropping to one knee to embrace his youngest daughter.
"Zylea! Zyla! Zylina! It's so good to see you!" Kera said, jumping up to hug her younger siblings. Kira stood and waved at the trio.
They all looked exactly alike, except for their different hair lengths.
Zylea grinned and kissed Kera's cheek, his jaw length hair ivory hair tickling her lightly.
Zyla giggled as Kira hugged her tightly. "It's been too long!" chuckled the middle triplet. Both Kira and Kera nodded, Kera moving to embrace the last triplet.
Zylina stood there stiffly. Again, she was acting older than them all.
"Always the proper one, aren't we, Zylina?" Kera joked.
"It takes a fair amount of propriety to balance out Zyla's foolishness" Zylina said curtly.
"Kera! You forgot about me!" Shi said, smiling up at her oldest sister.
"How could I forget my lil' sis'!" Kera giggled, swinging Shi around. Their laughter rang out with Drake's, Zyla's and Kira's. Zylea smiled and while Zylina sniffed and sat down, gracefully crossing her legs.
"Now what were you saying about a jealousy plan?" Kira asked Zyla, seated back at the fireplace.
"Well, all we need to do is get either you or Zylea to start 'liking' Sarah, spending time with her, giving her things, dancing with her, that sort of thing. Jareth should get jealous and lose it, confessing his love to her" Zyla said breathlessly.
Kira and Kera looked at each other again, evil twin smirks appearing on their faces for the second time that day. Drake nodded, with Shi in his lap, and grinned.
"I refuse to have anything to do with this childish exploit" Zylina said quietly, staring at the wall.
"Well, we don't need you. We just need one of the boys to try and 'woe' Sarah and either Zyla or myself to draw Jareth's attention to it."
"I volunteer to 'woe' her!" Kira exclaimed.
"Why so enthusiastic, dear brother?" Zyla asked, raising an eyebrow
"I just love picking fights with our Big Brother!" Kira said, his eyes gleaming with mischief
Everyone laughed, except for Zylina. Kera smiled and looked at their father.
"Approve? Hell no!" he said. "I'm gonna HELP!"
Again, everyone laughed. It was a fool-proof plan.
"Ah, might I draw your attention to a tiny little detail?" Zylina said, her eyes narrowed.
"What might that be, little sister?" Zylea asked.
"Jareth's secret? In two month's time, he will have rule for exactly one-hundred years. That means that the prophecy is supposed to happen at that time."
The room had gone cold suddenly. Drake looked down, remembering the day that Claora gave Jareth that prophecy…the curse.
Drake smiled as his eldest son was graced as Goblin King, and set to rule over all of Underground.
"As is custom, I now call forth Lady Claora, the kingdom's prophet!" Drake called.
Jareth smiled down at his little brother and sister, identical twin two-year-olds.
Out of the halls came a small figure. Well, at least she was shorter than normal Fae were.
She had longer, dark copper hair and clear, bottle green eyes. Her skin was the color of moon light and her voice was that of crystals.
She bowed before Drake, and again before Jareth, then approached the High King and the Goblin King.
Carefully, she placed her hand on Jareth's shoulder. A moment passed before she spoke, her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
"As the one-hundredth year passes of this King's ruling, the King of Goblin shall fall in love with a mortal woman. Though he will deny the emotion, his love for her will cause him to realize the truth. The entire kingdom will be in celebration on the day the two wed, and many hundred years shall pass in peaceful bliss.
However, should the mortal woman deny the King of Goblins, both Underground and its King shall be doomed to Darkness and Despair. The kingdom will become ill, all of its wondrous sights falling into Shadow. In turn, the King will suffer the same fate."
"Father?" Kira said, looking at Drake.
"Papa?" Shi asked. "What are they talking about? 'Jareth's secret'?"
"Nothing, Little One" Zylea said, moving closer to Kera.
"Well, maybe our plan will help them get closer" Drake suggested.
"Yeah! It has to work! We have two months to make them fall completely in love!" Zyla said.
The present family nodded. Nothing could go wrong.