A Piece of Cake

Sarah was not afraid, and it was fearfully obvious to Jareth as he found himself watching her once more through his silver bauble. His song had ended and there was nothing to cheer him up anymore, and so he was back to his same routine. He held the orb delicately with his fingers, as delicately as if he were holding Sarah's own face. She was at the Four Guards now, the four brainless brothers cackling on about nothing.

"Well, the only way out of here is to try one of these doors!" The second Red brother said to Sarah.

"One of them leads to the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth, and the other one leads to—Buh-Buh-Buh-Boom!—certain death!" The second Blue brother finished.

"Ooooooh!" they all moaned.

Jareth smiled, as he knew they were lying. There was nothing but despair on either route, even if she did figure out their little riddle. With great surprise to Jareth, she solved the riddle quicker than he could have imagined. She grinned triumphantly and pushed past the Blue brothers, confidence in her gait.

"I think I'm getting smarter!" She laughed, "It's a piece of cake!"

As she ended her sentence she fell through the floor, falling down into a pit of Helping Hands. Right on cue! Jareth smiled to himself. While they asked her where she'd like to go, up or down, Jareth let his mind roam. If everything went according to plan, which it would, Sarah would never complete his Labyrinth—but she was father than he thought she'd be. Still, he applauded the intellect he wasn't fully aware she possessed until now. As far as he knew, no one had ever solved the Four Guards' riddle. Not only was she smart, but she was resolute.

With mixed admiration and discontent, he spoke aloud to his minions as if it would give comfort: "She's in the Oubliette."

The goblins around him cackled unpleasantly and loudly.

"Shut up!" Jareth yelled. "She should not have gotten as far as the Oubliette, she should have given up by now..."

"She'll never give up!" A goblin shrieked.

"Won't she?" Jareth replied to it, calmly enough to surprise himself. "The dwarf's about to lead her back to the beginning, she'll soon give up when she realizes she has to start all over again."

He began to chuckle in reassurance until he noticed his cohorts were not following him. "Well? Laugh." he said strictly.

And they did, quite menacingly so. He joined them in their raucous laughter, throwing up his crystal ball, watching it as it glistened in the light.

I have nothing to worry about. He encouraged himself.

Down in the Oubliette, Jareth watched Sarah talk with the dwarf. Hogwash seemed to be doing as he was told, but Jareth could not remove any doubt left from the promise of the dwarf. Dwarves were not the types to keep their word, and they were easily swayed in the heat of the moment. In his bed room, shut away with little Toby, Jareth sat angled on the edge of his massive bed. The dark purple sheets were fashioned of fine cottons and silks; a remnant from his days in Esitrea. Toby sat upon the bed, shaking a small rattle made from the bones of goblins that had gotten on Jareth's nerves.

He talked to the child, as it seemed to sooth him. "What to do, Toby, what to do."

The light through the one window in the chamber illuminated the whole room, granting his room an atmosphere of mystery instead of the usual one of dread. Jareth watched the horizon that seemed to stretch on to forever. There was no sun, but there was light. Where did it come from? Jareth always wondered. He couldn't control light, but he could control time; with the flick of his finger he could slow it down or speed it up. Time was nothing to him—but the light he knew nothing about. Did the Underground have a sun, like Sarah's human world? Why did his alterations of time never change the amount of daylight?

Jareth quickly tired himself searching his mind for the answers he wouldn't find, and looked back to his crystal. Sarah was holding out an item of jewelry to Gitwit, and Jareth could see the willpower dying in the dwarf's ugly little face.

"Damn you, Hodkin!" Jareth bellowed throughout his chambers, startling Toby.

Almost instantly there was a rapping on the door, and two goblins opened it a crack. "Your majesty?" They whimpered. "Do you need our assistance?"

"Watch the child." Jareth growled, the fever in his ears growing hotter. "I have to go deal with a disobedient dwarf."

Out the window Jareth jumped, swiftly and with the utmost ease. He swung his cape over his arms and they were soon the wings of a barn owl. He was lighter now, and gliding through the dreary, humid sky. The walls of the Labyrinth stretched far across the outskirts of his city, and Jareth dove his small body down into an opening to the Oubliette. He flattened his wings wide and halted his speed instantaneously, transforming back into his human form as he did so. He whipped out his crystal ball, determining Sarah's position. She wasn't far, just beyond the Hall of Half-Hearted Warnings.

Jareth waved his hand and a ready-made costume appeared. He covered his face with the mask of an old crow, and wore the clothes of an beggar's. From thin air he brought fourth a bucket with which to panhandle. He then took hold of his crystal ball and rolled it across the ground, invisible to Sarah and Pignit's eyes as it first rolled past them down the Hall of Half-Hearted Warnings. He crouched down and leaned against a damp wall, waiting for the duo to catch a glimpse of the ball as it rolled back to him like a boomerang.

Before long, the two entered Cleaner's Lane, where Jareth currently waited. He saw them approach as his crystal hopped back into the bucket that he held in his hands.

"Ah, what have we here?" Jareth said in a twisted tongue that was not his own.

The dwarf had his suspicions about him already. "Oh, uh, nothing." he stuttered.

Jareth could not contain his fury. "Nothing? Nothing? Nothing! Nothing, tra-la-la?" He stood to full glory and revealed himself. His was wearing one of his favourite blazers, encrusted with diamonds around the neckline—and it shone magnificently in the gloom. His legs were sleek and slender, and he stood tall and enraged. He shook his old costume as if he were shaking out the truth.

"Your majesty, what a nice surprise!" the dwarf stammered.

"Hello, Headwort." Jareth smiled viciously.

"Hogwart," Sarah corrected him.

"Hoggle!" Hoggle corrected her.

"Hoggle," Jareth said, glancing at Sarah for a moment, "Can it be that you're helping this girl?"

"H-h-helping? In what sense?"

"In the sense that you're leading her towards the castle."

"No, no!" the dwarf pleaded. "I was taking her back to the beginning, your Majesty."

Jareth returned his eyes to Sarah, only to see her expression at discovering she had been conned.

"What?" She cried in disbelief.

"I told her I was going to help her solve the Labyrinth."

Jareth put a hand to his ear as the dwarf spoke, as if to pretend he was hard of hearing.

"A little trickery on my part, but actually—"

"What is that plastic thing around your wrist?" Jareth said, interrupting the dwarf's excuse. It was the same bracelet he'd seen Sarah dangling in front of the dwarf's eyes only minutes before.

"Oh," the dwarf was taken aback, and hid his hand without thinking. He pulled it back out again to pretend that he had nothing to hide. "Oh, this?" He mustered a nervous laugh. "Oh, my goodness, where did this come from?"

"Piggle—"

"Hoggle," Hoggle corrected.

"Yes," Jareth proceeded with exasperation, "If I thought for one second you would betray me, I'd be forced to suspend you head-first into the Bog of Eternal Stench."

"No! Your Majesty! Not the Eternal Stench!" The dwarf begged, taking hold of his leg.

"Oh yes, Hoggle!" Jareth replied fiercely, removing the creature from his leg.

Shortly after dismissing the dwarf, Jareth remembered about Sarah and advanced towards her without delay. "And you, Sarah," he almost whispered, in a craving tone he could not help. He placed an arm against the wall next to where she stood, leaning in to her small frame. He wanted to be closer, and had to restrain himself from reaching out and taking hold. "How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?"

She looked him straight in the eye, wide-eyed and red-lipped. Her pale softness glowed like a firefly in the night.

She looked down as she lied. "It's a piece of cake." she scoffed.

The dwarf groaned in the background.

"Really?" Jareth smiled, removing himself from her. "Then how about upping the stakes, hmm?"

He lifted his arm and brought forth a clock. He pointed to its golden rim and stark-black hands. The hands began to swirl forward in time, following the swirling index finger that commanded them.

"That's not fair!" Sarah protested feebly.

"You say that so often," Jareth felt irritation at her words, and leaned in towards her in a manner of intimidation. He pulled himself away from her just as quickly, in fear of losing his composure. "I wonder what your basis for comparison is."

"So the Labyrinth is a piece of cake, is it?" He went up against a backdrop of emptiness. "Well, let's see how you deal with this little slice."

Gracefully he pulled forth his crystal ball between his fingertips. He gave one last glance towards Sarah before throwing the crystal into the abyssal darkness behind him. Jareth faded into the shadows as the light from the orb brought forth the metallic shine of the Cleaner, clanking loudly and mechanically as it advanced.

"Oh no, the Cleaners!" Tidwit cried.

"What?" Sarah shrieked.

"Run!"

Jareth watched them flee in panic. He hid in the shadows and crevaces of the walls, as he often did in Sarah's world, and laughed at their terror. He followed close behind them in pursuit.

That's what you get. Jareth thought.

Sarah grabbed hold of the dwarf's hand absentmindedly as they ran. Jareth could not help but notice, and grit his teeth in anger. She would hold that slimy hand over his own? In his rage he sent out a small gust of wind, strong enough to push the little dwarf off of his feet. He fell hard to the floor, and Jareth delighted in the invisible torment.

They continued to run until they hit a barred dead end. The dwarf cursed her as they banged on the surrounding walls, looking for a weakness or a way out. Jareth observed Sarah with resentment.

I do everything for her. He thought. I just want to rule her, to make her mine. Why can't she understand that?

The dread in her eyes ached his heart. With a guilty conscience and a sigh, he released the wall they banged on from its hold in the surrounding bricks. It fell to the floor, with Sarah and the dwarf falling on top of it.

Jareth could not understand what he was feeling. For all the years that he had watched Sarah in her world, all he ever felt was a longing to touch her skin and to hold her small frame in his arms. He was sure that one day he'd have exactly that, because whatever he wanted he eventually got. But she resisted him with everything she had, and his patience was running out. He loved her, but she did not love him.

You make me feel this way, Sarah. Jareth scowled in his mind, yearning for her all the while. You are the poison and the antidote to this illness.

A/N: It was reeeeeally hard to avoid innuendos at certain parts. "He stood to full glory and revealed himself" is completely innocent, I swear.

.. ;)