"Keep the Magic Alive"
Chapter 15
By Aiijuin
Disclaimer: All things "Labyrinth" belong to Henson Companies as well as many other wonderful contributors. I own nothing!
This story is VERY dark, and therefore is marked M+ for Mature content
Chapter 15: Two Sides to Every Story
Sarah's eyes stared wondrously at the dwarf as he approached her with a slow waddle. Then, he hopped up onto the side of the bed and sat next to Jareth, who was sleeping away. Sarah asked, "Who are you?"
The dwarf looked downtrodden and replied, "Aw, they said that you had lost all of yer' mind, but I didn't think that it would hurt this much ta' have you forget about me, Sarah."
"I'm sorry," Sarah apologized. "I…"
Hoggle interrupted, "No need ta' say yer' sorry. Jareth did a terrible thing to you, but its not really all his fault, you see..."
Sarah shook her head to show that she didn't understand him, as Sahara exclaimed, "Mommy! There isn't any other way out of this room, except through this locked door. How do we get out?!"
Sarah pulled her daughter away from the door and huddled her family unto the floor by Hoggle's feet. She looked up at him and asked, "Please…tell me what's going on here."
Hoggle drew in a deep breath and replied, "I'll tell you the parts that I know about. I only hope that ya' don't hate me when I'm done tellin' you about it… 'cause we all did what we had to do back then."
Sarah nodded, and then Hoggle began to narrate to her, "After you defeated the Goblin King, when you was just a young girl, you managed to live happily ever after… However, Jareth did not. His heart was literally broken into two halves when you left him behind. 'Rejection' ain't been one of the easiest things for the Goblin King to deal with, especially since he had actually fallen in love with you towards the end. Anyway, from what I gather, Jareth couldn't stand the pain so, he threw all of those lovin', carin', and joyful emotions along with the other half of his heart far, far away from him. It was said by some, that Jareth's severed heart had died long ago, but I know that it didn't 'cause I'm the one who took it and tried to save it. I felt that it was the only good part of Jareth left and it was worth keepin' alive. I knew that Jareth wouldn't like me meddling in his business, so I took the piece of heart and planted it deep within you, Sarah, where it remained hidden for some years."
Sarah took a deep breath in, as she pondered what Hoggle was saying to her. He continued, "I felt that part of Jareth's heart belonged to you anyway. Well, eventually, you found another guy and got engaged.. I think that's the word ya' called it…but Jareth had been watching you closely from within his Labyrinth and he decided to kill your new boyfriend and everybody else who was a part of your future wedding."
Jennifer whispered to herself, "I can't believe that he attempted to murder my mother…"
Hoggle overheard Jenny and nodded, "Yeah, I know… it was shocking to me too! Jareth ain't never done anything so cruel before! It was never his way, but when he cast all of the good stuff out of himself, all he was left with was just the bad stuff that did bad things."
Sarah blinked and looked over at her sleeping husband. The dwarf continued, "I ain't really sure what happened from that point on, but I can tell you what I think happened."
"Go on," Sarah prodded.
Hoggle continued, "I'm thinking that it was probably the other part of Jareth's heart that saved your life, but I'm also thinkin' that maybe it was knocked out of your insides when the other Jareth did what he did to ya'. I don't really know the details of what actually happened, but I know it was bad, 'cause we never heard from ya' again. You forgot about us completely. You probably don't even remember my name, huh?"
Sarah shook her head as the dwarf jumped off of the bed and took a bow while he introduced himself, "The name's 'Hoggle'. Nice ta' meet ya' again!"
"Likewise, Hoggle," Sarah smiled, and then asked, "So, what do think happened after Jareth's heart was thrust out of me?"
"I'm thinkin' that maybe it took on a life of its own, but I'm not really certain. The only thing that I DO know is that Jareth's piece of heart that I placed within you is gone, but after I checked this guy," Hoggle pointed upwards towards the sleeping Jareth King, "I found that he had the missing piece of heart that used to be inside of you, Sarah. It would make lots of sense about why the Goblin King couldn't see him with his magic. He would never suspect himself of stealin' you away, now would he?"
Sahara held up her hand to pause the conversation, "Whoa! Wait a minute! You're not actually saying that terrible Goblin King and my Daddy were once a complete person, are you?"
Hoggle nodded regretfully, "I'm afraid so, Kiddo."
Jennifer shook her finger, "…but one is the Goblin King and the other is my Dad. I mean, they aren't really the same person anymore, are they? Not if one is good and the other is bad…."
Hoggle sighed and raised his hairy eyebrows in exasperation, "No, no! Your Pop and the Goblin King are the same guy…well, sort of... I mean, it ain't an easy thing to explain!"
Julia replied, "…but they are, in fact, two different people, right? We saw two of them inside of that ballroom tonight. It didn't seem like one was very keen of the other one …My father wouldn't actually love us and try to kill us at the same time, right?"
Sarah held her breath, because she knew that the next words from the dwarf would determine if she could ever trust her husband again. Hoggle sensed Sarah's sudden tension and patted her on the shoulder, "Don't'cha worry, Sarah. Yer' daughter is right… Jareth has been split into two separate folks, and I was wrong when I blamed your Jareth for throwin' little Jaime down into the oubliette. I just hope ya' forgive me fer' yellin' at him and I hope he forgives me too. I didn't mean it, but at the time, I just didn't realize that there were two of him."
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief as she hugged the dwarf. Hoggle pushed her back and said, "No! Don't'cha go kissin' me again and gettin' me bogged twice! That ain't fair!"
Sarah laughed and replied, "I won't kiss you, I promise, but you have no idea how wonderful it was to hear you say those words."
Sahara muttered, "It still doesn't explain half of the things that just happened back there. I mean, the Goblin King has those powers, but my dad… he's just Daddy…"
Sarah stood up and caressed the side of Jareth's face as she replied to her youngest daughter, "If I understand Hoggle correctly, then I believe that your father has the exact same powers as the other Jareth. He just doesn't realize it. He's been living as a human with us for so long, that he has no recollection of who he really is, except for a name…How would he have known either way?"
Julia sighed and said, "At least with Dad protecting us, that Goblin King-guy won't ever bother us again."
Hoggle shook his head and replied, "I'm sorry to tell you, Kid, but the Goblin King will never stop chasin' you as long as ya' belong to Sarah, not to mention he'll never stop chasin' her either. He'll just keep crossing over the boundaries of the Underground and spend all eternity trappin' you and your family forever and ever if he's got to…"
"Then what do we do?" Jennifer asked frantically.
"I don't know," the dwarf replied, "but I'm hoping that your dad can help us. The sooner he wakes up, the better. We're gonna need all of the help we can get against the other Jareth."