Labyrinth 3

A riding crop restlessly tapped against a well polished black boot while a pair of mismatched eyes glanced lazily at the chaos surrounding the large and overly ornate throne. Goblins perched on every available surface, screaming, laughing, and fighting. Their eyes were glazed from rum and their movements were clumsy and jerky, all thrown objects, and squalling chickens, missed their marks as the once grand throne room was further reduced to a tattered caricature of its former glory.

One particularly drunk goblin stumbled into the Goblin King, who was gracefully sprawled across his throne. He, justly, felt indignant as the putrid odor of alcohol wafted through his nostrils, causing him to frown in disgust and sharply poke the unfortunate goblin with his riding crop. The small and oblivious creature squeaked loudly, falling on top of another goblin and causing yet another brawl. The further escalation of noise caused Jareth to rub a hand over his eyes, rudely shaken out of his memories of the night before.

The dreams dear Sarah had been having woke him every night, and the lack of sleep made him more irritable than normal, the antics of his loyal subjects were grating against his nerves and causing him to wonder more and more often, whether goblins could die. Eventually, his thoughts slowly turned, as they had for three long years, back to a very hardheaded girl with wide, innocent hazel eyes… eyes that could be so horribly cruel. A slender gloved hand absently grabbed the odd necklace around his neck as the sounds of his kingdom dimmed, his gaze turning absent one more.

He wondered what she dreamed of, what nightmares awoke her night after night just to leave her watching the sun rise, too afraid to sleep and silently screaming his name so loudly his ears rang and his heart raced… he actually felt fear, and unbeknownst to Sarah, he watched the dawn with her, the sound of his name echoing through his skull, even though she hadn't had the courage to say it aloud.

He smiled despite his morbid thoughts. She was such a silly, hard-headed girl, so stubborn when all she had to do was say the right words. Such a simple feat, and yet, as always, it was a matter of waiting for her to stop head-butting an open door and walk through it. Yet, he was a very, very patient man and their game continued. She won his labyrinth, but that was a mere battle, and the war didn't seem to be over. He wondered what truly caused her nightmares, for the effect on him had to have been nothing compared to what was happening to her. She grew progressively thinner and those innocent eyes looked more haunted and scared by the night. What if-

The room grew dead silent, goblins scrambling over each other, listening with barely contained excitement. Jareth slowly sat up, his contemplation forgotten. Breathless seconds later, it happened.

"I wish the goblins would come and take you away… Right NOW."

Jareth quickly summoned a crystal with an elegant wave of his hand, as the goblins went berserk, disappearing one by one. He peered into the clear orb in his gloved hand and was struck speechless with what he saw inside. He shook himself to his senses and threw his crystal toward a nearby wall, the orb bursting into a wall of shimmering light. He ran toward it, morphing into a barnyard owl, exiting through a grimy window where a terrified girl awaited him.

Terrified brown eyes looked up at him, one surrounded by a particularly nasty bruise, tears causing them to shine in the dim street light. He looked her over with a practiced look of indifferent disdain although he almost cringed at the pathetic excuse of a room he stood in. Every piece of furniture and floor was covered in clothing, food, and objects he refused to allow himself to identify and the terrified, scantily clad, stick of a girl couldn't be over eighteen.

"Well, well, well… Whatever shall we do with you, my dear?" He smirked slowly, leaning over her as she shrunk away.

"You-you're the Goblin King." She whispered, voice shaking.

"Why so scared, child? I only did as you asked. What shall we do with you? Will you run the labyrinth to take back the child I have so wrongfully stolen? …or…" He looked her over slowly, leaning over her, so close that he could almost hear her heart beat. His smirk slowly widened, a shark narrowing in on its helpless prey.

"O-Or…?" She repeated the word a mere whisper. He leaned away, turning to stare at the equally grimy street.

He allowed his smirk to slowly grow into a smile, for he was the Goblin King and this was his realm. He felt strangely alive with the power.

"Tell me!" The girl shrieked, the sound broken and high pitched with a sob. She fell forward, grabbing his arm and falling to her knees. "Tell me! Please…"

Jareth slowly turned, glancing down at the wrecked child clinging to him. It was obvious, even to the untrained eye that she was a desperate drug addict, and he tried to ignore the naked, unmoving man sprawled across the nearly destroyed bed, if it could be called that, and the painfully obvious needle still embedded in his arm. He choked back a lump that suddenly appeared in his throat, feeling revulsion and pity for the broken creature next to him.

He summoned a crystal and kneeled down next to the girl, holding it in front of her.

"I offer you this. It is a crystal, nothing more, but if you turn it this way, it will show you your dreams… All that you must do for such a gift is to give me the baby." His voice was soft, almost a purr. He watched her with an unreadable expression and his mismatched eyes were cold. The girl watched his gift with glazed and hypnotized eyes. She then slowly reached toward it, her hand shaking. He pulled it back from her outstretched fingers. She let out a strangled yell and leapt toward it, missing due to the drugs in her system.

"So, this crystal is your choice?" He asked calmly, raising an eyebrow and playing with the crystal, effortlessly twirling it from one hand to another. "You choose the crystal over your child?"

She looked up at him, opening and closing her mouth as tears ran down her face. She reached toward him one more before finally whispering "Yes, yes, yes, yes. G-give it to me, please."

He leaned toward her once more, closing her dirty hands around the glittering orb. "Then it is done…" He whispered, looking down at the pathetic creature peering into his gift, enraptured and unaware of the outside world. "A mere crystal in exchange for a life."

The girl didn't even notice the barnyard owl take off toward the moon. Jareth flew away from the hellhole his newest citizen had been born in, trying to focus on the cool wind blowing through his feathers instead of the grief he felt for the child that had a child, only to give it away for a mere crystal, little more than a trinket in exchange for a baby, an innocent creature that wasn't given a chance. But down in the underground, in his kingdom the babe would find a home among the lost and lonely. The child would never hurt again and that was comfort enough.

His thoughts were interrupted as a horrified scream, causing him to nearly fall from the sky. He flapped his wings quickly, trying to regain his equilibrium. It was dear Sarah silently calling for him, but it still wasn't the right words… It was enough nonetheless, and despite his better judgment, he found himself altering his flight path, unable to keep himself from going to Sarah.

He perched on a branch outside of her window, feeling a vague sense of déjà vu. Jareth peered in, watching her tremble, her tear-filled eyes looking around her room before she slowly rose and stumbled toward the window. He had seen her do this so many times through his crystals, but it was somehow more painful to see it in person. She looked so frail that it was frightening. 'Dear Sarah…' She curled up onto her window seat, staring up at the clear night sky and obviously trying to regain her composure, looking angry with herself. Stubbornness was finally overriding terror, it seemed. That was the boneheaded little girl he knew… and loved. 'Such a sap in my old age…' She sniffed and impatiently wiped her tears away, and he knew that she was probably telling herself that she was overreacting as she always did, and as always, she wasn't able to fool herself. 'No more then she can fool me.'

Yet, despite the fake bravery, she silently repeated his name again, the action making him shiver in ecstasy, the sound of his name from her lips would have made him smirk at the longing in it if he was in human form, but his eyes still shined with glee. 'Dear Sarah, you precious thing, I have power over you still.'