NSFW. Sort of.
Chapter 5
The First Task and the Hallelujah
The first step Jareth took was a disaster.
The moment Sarah vanished Jareth stood proudly at the top of the hill, knowing with full confidence that he could beat Sarah as she had beaten him. He lifted his foot….
… the tip of which immediately got snagged on a stone and sent him tumbling down the hill. He came to a stop at the very bottom, dust flying everywhere.
"Yer Majesty!" gaped the annoyingly hoarse voice of a certain dwarf from above him. He cleared his throat. "May I ask what yer doin' down there?"
"You can thank your dear friend Sarah for that," Jareth snarled, spitting dirt out of his mouth and dusting off his clothes irritably.
"Say, Yer Majesty, you look diff'rent," Hoggle exclaimed confusedly. "And… yeh said something about Sarah?"
His tone had gotten hopeful and gloomy.
Jareth blinked the dust out of his eyes and coughed, "How long has it been since you've seen Sarah, Hograin?"
"Hoggle," the dwarf mumbled. "Two years. She was s'posed ter call after she left, but she didn't."
Jareth actually felt pity for the little dwarf. "I warn you, Sarah has changed in the past few years. She let fame go to her head… but she's still the same old Sarah inside," he added hastily, noticing Hoggle turning more and more crestfallen as he spoke. Hoggle glanced at him with brows furrowed.
"Y'know, if I didn't know any better," Hoggle said innocently. "I'd say yeh were tryin' to cheer me up."
Jareth sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I suppose I was."
He glanced up at the towering wall, on the other side of which was the Labyrinth.
"Um… what are yeh doin' here, Yer Majesty?" Hoggle asked tentatively.
"Sarah has stripped me of my power and forced me to run my own Labyrinth," Jareth explained darkly, still examining the walls curiously.
"Sarah did that?" Hoggle gasped.
"Such an intriguing woman…" Jareth sighed, and Hoggle rolled his eyes before cowering underneath Jareth's sharp look. "It seems Sarah has moved the entrance, and I'd rather not look for it. I'm assuming you know where it is?"
"Over there, Yer Majesty," pointed Hoggle earnestly, and Jareth spun around to see the enormous black door that hadn't been there before. Jareth glanced at Hoggle and said, "I won't bother asking how you did that."
Taking a deep breath, Jareth stepped through the doors.
At first Jareth wondered if Sarah had changed anything after all, for when Jareth stepped inside he was in the familiar endless corridor. A dense fog hung just above the ground.
"Left or right?" Hoggle mumbled, stepping through with him.
"Neither," Jareth answered immediately. "Sarah has rearranged the Labyrinth to even the odds. Under normal circumstances, either of these long corridors would lead straight to the castle, but in lieu of these circumstances…"
He let his voice trail off and he ventured off to the right, running his hands over the walls. Hoggle followed him as he went nearly a hundred yards without finding a hidden exit.
"Has she taken away all the hidden exits?" Jareth murmured to himself. A thick Cockney accent startled him.
"'Allo."
Jareth looked around for the source of the voice, but couldn't see anybody except Hoggle, who pointed to the wall. Jareth glanced down to see a furry little worm with a comical red scarf smiling up at him with big eyeballs.
"Erm, good day," said Jareth awkwardly.
"Are you the newest runner?" the worm asked with a big grin. "Terrible time to be showin' up. This Labyrinth seems to have rearranged itself, it has!"
"No, I'm the Goblin K—" started Jareth sharply, before sighing. "Yes, I'm the newest runner."
"Well then, why don't you rest up a bit and come on inside?" the worm exclaimed. "I'd love for you to meet me missus."
"You mean, into that little crevice in the wall?" Jareth grinned. "I'm afraid not, little worm, for you see I can't fit inside."
The worm thought for a moment before nodding.
"I've always pondered why runners have turned down my invitations," he said seriously, inching back into his home. Jareth snickered as he realized just how little of his Labyrinth he knew. He'd never known that a little worm had been lazing around the first corner of the Labyrinth, offering people into his home without giving any thought as to how they'd get in.
"Perhaps… the corridor no longer ends," said Jareth to himself, glancing at his path. "Come, Hawthorn."
"Hoggle," Hoggle mumbled, but followed the King nevertheless. As Jareth had suspected the corridor did end now… with the four red and blue Guards hidden in the shield. Except now there was only one door, with four Guards guarding it.
"Wh-what are you doing in here, Your Majesty?" gawked the top Red Guard, as the other three cowered behind their shields.
"Ignore that, just give me the riddle," said Jareth crossly, wishing that they, like the worm, hadn't recognized him.
"It is greater than God and more evil than the devil," said the Blue Guard tentatively. "The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you'll die. What is it?"
Jareth's expression slowly turned sour as he racked his brains for the answer, but couldn't find it. Hoggle watched him earnestly, before whispering, "The answer is the same as this: what to you is more important than Sarah?"
"Nothing," snarled Jareth, before his face went slack. "That's the answer— nothing!"
He smiled triumphantly as the door swung open, and he marched forward with Hoggle lagging behind him. The floor beneath him slid away and with a gasp Jareth fell down the trap.
At first as he fell Jareth wondered if the outer layers of the deep hole were protruding branches, but as the branches suddenly caught him he realized that they weren't branches at all, but the Helping Hands.
"Ooh look, we caught the King!" squawked an odd formation off hands that looked like a bird.
"Yes, yes, now get me out of here!" Jareth demanded.
"Very well," said a formation of hands with a hoarse voice. "Up or down?"
Jareth opened his mouth to answer 'up' but suddenly he heard the most seductive thing in the world calling from below him.
"I've heard there was a sacred chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord…" crooned Sarah's voice, in a sweet melodic tone that made Jareth want to groan.
"Down," Jareth ordered, ignoring the snickers and shouts of, "Ha! He chose down!"
"But you don't really care for music, do you...?"
The hands released him immediately and he tumbled down the hole under landing in a heap on the dirty floor.
It was pitch dark, but Jareth didn't need light to know that he was in an Oubliette… and that someone was in the room with him.
Sarah let out a low chuckle and said lightly, "I knew that would get you down here."
Jareth stood up and outstretched his arms trying to feel his way to Sarah through the darkness.
"You wanted me down here?" he asked with a smirk.
"Yes," Sarah said airily, her voice echoing against the cave walls. "I was bored. I never knew that just waiting for a runner of the Labyrinth could be so boring."
"You weren't boring," Jareth admitted, stumbling over a rock.
"No, I suppose I wasn't," Sarah said solemnly. There was silence.
"You sang," Jareth said, flushing in the dark as he realized he sounded almost breathless.
"I did," Sarah said uninterestedly, before changing the subject. "You completed your first task, Goblin King. Ve-e-ry impressive. Now for your second task."
"All right," Jareth sighed. "What is it?"
"Come and find me," she giggled, and Jareth scoffed, "I've been trying to do that for nearly five minutes now."
"Yeah, but you haven't found me yet. This particular Oubliette is bigger than the one I was in."
Jareth stopped in his tracks and tried to think this task through logically. Sarah's voice to him felt as though it were following him, that he was just a step behind it. Jareth whirled around immediately and outstretched his arms. His gloved fingers met Sarah's shoulder.
"Now then," Jareth said briskly, feeling triumphant. "I've completed the second task. Can you let me out of here?"
"Oh no, that wasn't the reward for completing the second task," Sarah said simply, and Jareth narrowed his eyes through the darkness.
"Then what was?"
"I'll show you."
Sarah's arms suddenly found their way around Jareth's neck, and excitement flared up in his chest as he felt her warm breath on his lips. He dove forward, imprisoning her mouth with his own for a searing kiss. Jareth deepened the kiss as his need to capture her heightened, except unlike last time Sarah didn't pull away. In fact as Jareth's tongue penetrated the barrier of her lips, one of her hands left his neck and began trailing down his chest to the effect she'd bestowed upon him. Her hand vanished into his breeches to grasp his manhood. Jareth inhaled sharply, trying to hold back the groan that was threatening to rip from his throat as Sarah began raking her nails up and down his length. Sarah's lips left Jareth's to nibble on his throat.
"Jaaaaareth..." she cooed, her breath rolling down his neck. That was it. Jareth's head fell back and he moaned in unison, unable to think and barely able to form coherent speech.
" I...oh god..." Jareth whimpered, making Sarah chuckle lightly.
"You're thinking too much, Goblin King."
"You— I... I can't... I'm not going to last! Please..."
"Then don't. Stop holding back."
Jareth groaned again as Sarah's hand movements sped up considerably. She licked along the length of his throat before travelling back to his lips and granting him one last searing kiss, hearing him whimper again as she removed her hand.
"My my, Goblin King," Sarah exclaimed with a husky laugh, as Jareth was forced to use her shoulder to stop himself from falling to the ground like a boneless jellyfish.
"You seem to have more power than just the crystal, precious," Jareth said breathlessly, trying hard not to shake. "How talented your hands have become."
"Yes, you see, I've come a long way from fantasizing about fairytales and certain Goblin Kings," Sarah said briskly, causing Jareth to chuckle.
"So, you admit you've had thousands of fantasies involving me?" he smirked. "Very interesting, precious. Would you mind sharing some with me, preferably all of them?"
"The only fantasies I've had about you all involve me beating you. Again."
"Ah, you hurt my pride yet again. Tell me, why haven't you ever called your friends?" Sarah heart immediately sank. "I do hope you remember them... the furry red thing with the speech impediment? Perhaps the fox knight... and Hoggle?"
"You have no right," Sarah said in a low voice.
"Oh, but I do, precious," said Jareth sharply. "Because the dwarf is aiding me on this journey, as he'd aided you. It appears that your neglect has forced him to switch sides." Then he leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Such a pity."
Sarah took a step back and said with a voice full of panic, "You have no power over me!"
And with that she was gone.
A/N: Sorry for the long hiatus. Internet was down in my area.