Disclaimer: I own nothing dealing with Labyrinth and I hope that you would know that by now!
A/N: I am so sorry for not updating in a long time, but I have been very, very busy. So I hope that you shall forgive me when I say that I am, indeed, busy. I just started collage as well, so that kinda added to the pile in my list of things to do. Well, without further ado, thank you for the reviews and I hope that you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Thirteen: As the World Falls Down…
When Jareth returned to his castle, he was in absolutely no mood to be dealt with. That was why, when Hoggle hurried up to him as fast as he could, Jareth was more than a little annoyed at the infernal goblin.
"Hoggle, I am in no mood whatsoever to hear about your plans or answer any of your annoying questions. I just had the worst day with Sarah, and I don't wish to speak about it, especially with you."
"But Jareth, there is something I must tell you," replied Hoggle, panting at having to keep up with Jareth at such a quick pace. "It is of the greatest importance!" Jareth rounded on him.
"I said I am NOT in the mood!" he exclaimed. "How can I be any clearer than that?" He was now shouting, his face completely red.
"LOOK!" cried Hoggle. "I can see that you are not in the mood, but this is important!" He pulled Jareth by the hand and into the throne room. He then pointed to the chunk in the ceiling which was missing, and Jareth's jaw dropped. "You see now? That happened this morning, just after you left." Jareth felt his heart sink.
"Oh dear," he said, rubbing his head and collapsing in his throne. "This is just getting worse and worse."
"I take it you didn't see what else happened?" Both Jareth and Hoggle looked in the doorway to see the old wise goblin, standing in the doorway, with the annoying bird hat on his head.
"What do you mean?" asked Hoggle, his hands on his hips. The old goblin walked in further.
"Jareth, has Sarah refused you a second time?" he asked.
"Well, how's that for brain power?" asked the bird hat, in that annoyingly high pitched voice of his. The old goblin looked up.
"Would you PLEASE BE QUIET?" he shouted. The bird just rolled his eyes and fell silent. Turning back to Jareth, he asked, "Well, Jareth, has she?" Seeing that he probably knew anyway, Jareth nodded.
"Yes, in fact she did," he said. "How did you know?" The old goblin made a gesture to him to follow him.
"Come with me over here to the window," he said. Jareth stood and stalked over to the window. When he looked out, he gasped.
"How can this be?" he asked silently. Hoggle now came to his side and his eyes bugged out. The entire stone labyrinth had disappeared, leaving only the castle and the goblin city. They were now floating through their own universe, no longer stationary like they had once been.
"You know how this came to be," said the old goblin. "The very foundations on which we were founded on have crumbled. Children are no longer believing. And it all started with Sarah. We are counting on you to fix it."
"I can't," he replied honestly. "Sarah hates my guts."
"Then you have to try all that is in power to get her back," said the old goblin.
"I can't," said Jareth, shaking his head sadly.
"You can't give up," protested Hoggle. "If you give up, then what we to do? What about the goblins, the labyrinth? What about Sir Didymus, Ambrocious, Ludo? What about me?" Jareth looked at him sadly. "Don't do this just for us, Jareth. Do this for all of the children of the Aboveground. They cannot survive without imagination and fun and games. That is what being an adult is all about. And even adults have their secret dreams and fantasies. We need to survive, Jareth, for all children of all shapes, sizes, colors, and nationalities." Jareth sighed.
"I hate it when you're right," he said. "But what do I do?"
Ooooooooooo
Meanwhile, in the Aboveground, Sarah was sitting on her bed, tears falling from her eyes. How could she have been so blind? How could she have trusted Jareth, after all that he had put her through before? How could she have been so stupid as to believe that he had changed?
She looked over at the gift that he had given to her for her birthday. She was angry at him. There was no way she was ever going to forgive him for what he had done. She stood, went over to the small musical box, and was about to throw it when she heard Hoggle's voice.
"NO! Sarah, don't throw it!" he exclaimed. She looked into it angrily and met the face of the first friend she had made in the Labyrinth. "Please don't smash it." His eyes were sad as he said this.
"I have to, Hoggle," she said. "Jareth has gone too far this time. Do you know what he did?"
"Yes, Sarah, I do," replied Hoggle. "But you don't have to cut off contact with me just because he messed up, do you?" he asked. In reality, that was only part of why he had contacted her. He had wanted to make sure that Jareth still had a chance to win her heart.
"No, I suppose I don't," she said, though she still wanted to smash the figurine into a million pieces. Hoggle let out a sigh of relief.
"Good," he said. "Look, I am sorry for what Jareth has done. He should not have done that. But if you'll allow me a few more days, I promise I'll have worked with him enough to-,"
"Absolutely not, Hoggle," said Sarah. "I will not want to see him again."
"But Sarah," he said.
"NO!" she shouted. Finally, Hoggle got mad.
"FINE!" he shouted back. "Did it ever occur to you that he might actually care for you? No, it didn't. That's because you have this notion that he is really evil. That is not true in the least. The only way he acted the way he did in the first place is because that is what you expected of him. So your first encounter in the Labyrinth was because that was what he thought you had wanted. He thought you wanted him to be cruel. After all, that is all that you told Toby, was how cruel and mean he was, wasn't it? And now, you still perceive him to be the same Goblin King that he was when you first met him! Sure, you were getting along just fine with him, but as soon as he kissed you, you turned him back into his evil self. Poor little Sarah, being taken for a fool by the Goblin King. I'm sorry, Sarah, to have to be so harsh, but it's true. Perhaps you're not as intelligent as I thought you were!" With that, he was gone.
Sarah was left there, stunned by the harsh words of Hoggle. At first, she was angry at the way he had yelled at her. Then, she thought about what he had said rather than how he had said it. Was it true? Had he really been the evil Goblin King because that was how she had portrayed him?
A/N2: Okay, there you go! That is the next chapter in this saga! I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think! Always Hopeful