Disclaimer: I own nothing, with the exception of Wren – she's mine! You can't have her! Unless, of course, you're an (ahem) Underground Royal… yeah…
Anij: Ah, wouldn't it be nice to have portrait of the GK? I think so... Perhaps I'll work on that one here...
Yami Moon: Yeah, that is a Celine song... unfortunately, it's the only song Jareth really knows of - for the time being. That will be changing later... but he just can't remember names! He really is quite bad with them...
Notwritten: Ah, I 'm so glad you liked it!
DanikaLareyna: Oh, yes, Wren is going to make him suffer for this one... somehow... haven't decided how yet... working on it...
Kat: Good question. He may, in time… but for now, no. Wren's not ready. Well, not really about her parents, but Orla. She's way too nosy for her own good. No, Wren doesn't give up… well, rarely. Thanks for the review! I'm excited to see a new reviewer!
Adelaide Holmes: Whoohoo! You sound like me. If I had the chance, I could watch it over and over. Seriously, I could. Oh, the Labyrinth novelization was written by A.C.H. Smith, but good luck getting your hands on a copy. It's rare and hard to find. I had to pay a lot for my copy of it… and I still have to fix it up before I can really read it, as it's in shabby condition. I would try Ebay for one… that's where I got mine.
Sanoru: I think he should be proud of Wren, too. I think he is... but, you know... he's also conceited, so he just may not say so. Half the time, I don't know what he's thinking.
A/N: Okay, now that things are (ahem) back to normal around here, I have to give a HUGE – and I do mean HUGE – thank you to Danika for her help and advice on the last chapter. I don't think I could have done it without her Jareth-ness expertise and her excellent beta-skills. She was a wonderful help, but also way incredibly fun to work with – so thanks again, babe! Love ya!
And, let's see… How about some ACTUAL music recommendations?
Invisible by Clay Aiken – this reminds me of Jareth, for some reason.
Measure of a Man also by Clay Aiken – ditto. Dunno why…
Head Over Heels by the Go-go's – hee… this kinda works with this chapter – a lot!
Thursday's Child by David Bowie – love this song. No idea why, but I do.
Okay! There we go! Now… on with the story!
The first thing that I noticed were the emails in my inbox. What were all these people talking about? New chapter? What? I hadn't posted anything lately, as I'd had finals to finish for my online classes… what the heck was going on?
Then I got to the email that stated my new chapter – the one I had NEVER written – was posted successfully. I clicked on the link, and read what was before me. My mouth fell open.
I…
He…
"JARETH!" I screamed, frantically logging into my account, trying to delete the chapter. It denied me… saying there was an error… I tried everything, but no good. It wouldn't let me touch that chapter, either edit it or delete it.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
I never counted crystals faster in my life.
I tore down the hallway of the Goblin Castle, searching for him. Recently, I'd noticed that I could kinda tell where he was after using my ring… probably similar to how he was notified whenever I arrive in the Underground. But, really, that wasn't what I was thinking about at the moment.
Currently, strangling the Goblin King was all I had on my mind.
I skidded around the corner – having not thought to wear more than my own socks on my feet when I'd hastily come after him - spotting him just as he came out of two double doors.
"YOU!" I growled, pointing at finger at him.
He saw me and blanched, quickly turning back around and going into the doors through which he'd just came. I ran at the doors, skidding just before I reached them and slid past them while he closed them and locked the doors.
I got my bearing and approached the doors again. I tried the knobs first, in case I had misheard that tell-tale click of the locks, then pounded on the doors with my fists.
"OPEN THESE DOORS!" I bellowed, simply furious.
"No, I would rather not," came a muffled voice from the inside.
"OPEN THEM RIGHT NOW, JARETH! I SWEAR I WILL POUND THE DOOR DOWN!"
There was a pause, "Not until you have calmed yourself, Wren," said the muffled voice again.
I felt my eye twitch. I had told him, back when I first met him, that I could be a terrible nag. Now, he was going to see why.
"Fine," I said, semi-calm, "You won't open the door, so I get to show you how annoying – and unavoidable – I can be!"
I took a huge breath and balled my fists at my sides. Jareth had, unfortunately, not truly seen the power of my lungs or my high-pitched voice. He was in for it now.
"WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO GET INTO MY PERSONAL COMPUTER WHILE I'M AT WORK AND PUT UP A BUNCH OF HOOEY TO THE ENTIRE INTERNET? I AM SO FURIOUS WITH YOU! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST HIDE FROM ME? HA, I DON'T THINK SO, GOBLIN BOY! JUST YOU WAIT, I SWEAR I WILL NOT LET THIS UP ANYTIME SOON! GET YOUR PITIFUL ARSE OUT HERE AND FACE ME, YOU FRIGGIN COWARDLY JERK, BEFORE I START SINGING THE MOST OBNOXIOUS DAVID BOWIE SONGS I CAN POSSBILY THINK OF! AND DON'T THINK I WON'T-"
Both doors flew open, rattling against their hinges, revealing a wide-eyed Goblin King.
"Hold your tongue, you wretched thing!" he hissed, furiously.
My mouth snapped shut, instantly. How could he yell at me? He was the one who had invaded MY privacy, and then was the one HIDING from ME. And he was telling ME to be quiet?
Okay, fine. I'd be perfectly silent.
But first…
I squeezed my mouth shut tightly, even though I just wanted to flatly scream at him, and pulled up my hand.
The hand with my ring on it.
His anger seemed to fade, and he gave me a curious look that was also a little afraid – as if I was going to slap him. Ha, no, I don't like slapping people. Not when, you know, I can throw something at them instead.
It hurt my feelings to do it, because I love my ring, and the fact that he gave it to me, but I was more hurt that he didn't seem to notice a problem with what he'd done. And, yes, I knew that doing what I was about to do kinda limited my means of getting back home, but… I wanted an apology, and wasn't going to leave without it.
I pulled my ring off and threw it at him.
He made a kind of yelp noise, and I heard the ring ricochet off the doors, but I didn't see if it hit him or not. I ran away, feeling tears fall down my face. No, I wasn't sad, but when I can't scream, and I really want to, I cry instead. It's gotta come out somewhere.
I just tore off down the corridor, not caring where I ended up. I turned this way and that, slightly aware that he had started to follow me, just running… and then, after quite a while, I noticed that my stomach lurched, and I was facing an upside-down archway…
Somehow, I'd run to the Escher room. Ah, fine. Whatever. I really didn't care where I was.
I walked up three flights of stairs, across a wall, down into an archway, finally crouching down and sitting myself with my back to a wall. Or was it a floor? It was hard to tell, with that room being how it always is, and me being out of breath. On the ceiling, I saw Jareth run in, upside down. Or was it me that was wrong side up? There was a funky moment where he looked at me, and I felt strangely like I was going to fall. I got to my feet, queasily, and walked around a corner away from him and down some stairs. I sat at the foot of the stairs, my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. This room really got to me if I thought about it too much… or stayed in it too long…
"Wren, come here,"
I pulled my hands away from my face to see Jareth, extending a hand towards me from a wall to my left. He knew I had trouble with this room. But, I ignored his hand, got to my feet and marched up the stairs.
"Wren," he whined.
I grinned. But, I didn't let him see that.
I went through another archway and down two flights of stairs, quickly staggering over to stand on the wall instead, as they were freaking me out without guardrails. I flipped upside-down to march on the underside of the wall I had just been standing on – not the best of ideas, I swear – and found a corner to stare into, where I couldn't get any dizzier than I already was.
I sat in the corner like a child in time out. Not exactly the most dignified place, but it was more dignified than loosing my stomach all over some stairs and stuff.
Black boots appeared on the wall, next to my face. I looked up to see Jareth standing on one wall of the corner, and leaning against the other…
Oh, man, I wanted to barf.
I sealed my lips tighter and focused on my own flip-flops and the wall I was sitting on.
"Wren," he started, "Please… do not act this way…"
I said nothing. He'd told me to shut it, and so it was staying shut.
There was a pause. "Wren? Will you… speak to me?"
I said nothing.
"Shout at me?" his voice was pleading.
I still said nothing.
"Sing an obnoxious Bowie song?"
Yup, still nothing.
He sighed, "Wren, please… you are angry with me, are you not?"
Despite my queasiness, I looked up at him – he was now crouching down, and his face was right above mine, even though he was technically standing on the wall beside me – and rolled my eyes.
He nodded with a sigh, "You are upset with me for using magic to break into your computer and into your Internet writing account, and for creating an addition to your work without your knowledge..."
I pulled up my knees and buried my face in my arms.
"Did you ever consider how I felt about you posting stories about me? And incorrect ones, at that?"
Nothing, nothing, nothing!
"Wren, please say something,"
Ha, not on your life, buddy.
His voice sounded very small, "I have your ring… it is still yours, Wren…" A hand appeared in my vision extending my ring to me. Looking at it made me cry. I reached up a hand and flicked it away from me. It clinked around the room before it finally, somehow, bounced back to Jareth. He frowned and pocketed it. "I guess I shall keep it for you, for now, then…"
I sniffed, watery. My nose was starting to run. I was too busy to really care about my nose, though, and was doing my best to concentrate on breathing, in and out… in and out…
I hate the Escher room. Who's idea was it to build such a stupid place, anyway? I tried to make a note to ask Jareth, when I was speaking to him again.
"Wren," he said, his voice softer than before, and very close to me. I felt his hand reach under my chin and lift my eyes to his – which only proceeded to make me go green in the face, "Please allow me to take you back to the throne room. You are looking… ill."
Curse my own stubbornness. I gritted my teeth and glared at him… but I wasn't going to last much longer in the room. I closed my eyes tightly and frowned, but nodded. I stuck my hands out to him blindly, silently asking for help.
Instead, though, he took me in his arms, lifting me straight up – how he did it, in regards to both gravity and his own personal strength, I still don't know – with one arm under my legs and the other under my arms and around my back. I clung tightly to his neck, burying my face in his shoulder and hair, doing my best to hide the view of the room from my eyes. I felt him take a few steps, then he sat my feet down on some surface (I didn't dare look) and pulled me close where I buried my face into his chest and shirt, again to hide from the wretched room. With a final lurch that made my head spin, he released me and I opened my eyes…
To find us back in the throne room, with up being up and down being down, just as it's supposed to be.
Instantly, I dropped where I was and lied down on the floor, closing my eyes to ebb my nausea.
I heard an indignant snort from above me, "Well! I pull you from the room, and you still refuse to speak to me?"
Without opening my eyes, I nodded.
I heard him growl in his throat. "Wren! You stubborn mule! What do you want of me? I am afraid that I cannot take down what I did anymore than you could – that was, I confess, the point-" he held up his hands when I glared at him, "I know, I know, that is not helping my case. What's done is done! I am…" He trailed off, and I looked at him. He had a curious look on his face, as though something completely new had occurred to him. Yes, I think he knew then what I wanted from him. Even so, he looked a little strained to say it.
"I apologize, Wren," he said, simply.
I frowned at him, "What for?" I demanded. I wanted to hear what he was sorry for. As it was, there were at least two things. Maybe three, I hadn't quite decided.
He sighed again, hanging his head. "For making my way into your internet writings without permission," there was a pause and he raised his head up, "I assume that is what you are wanting an apology for, correct?"
I sniffed and looked away from him, "Perhaps…"
He was silent for a bit. I chanced a glance at him. He was standing there, one leg cocked out, one arm crossed and his chin resting on the fingers on his other hand, his eyebrows tightly knit and his eyes distant… he was thinking back on what I could possibly be mad at. I couldn't help but smile – he was so lovely. Just thinking that about him made my heart do a little wiggle dance – he really was gorgeous. How in the heck could I be so luck as to get a gorgeous guy like that?
Guy? Fae? Meh, whatever. Male. There, that worked.
Without moving the rest of him, one eyebrow raised and his eyes alone moved do look at me. Quickly, I sniffed again and went back to being overly dramatic, my head turned from him.
"And for ordering you to silence," he said, a slight trace of mirth in his voice that I could only guess came from him noticing me watching him.
I sniffed again, "And?"
He growled and bent down to grab my hand, promptly hauling me too my feet.
"Jareth!" I wailed, "I'm still dizzy!"
He wrapped his arms around me, underneath my own arms, and crossed them across my back – something that, I add, made me blush because it pulled me very close to him. "Do you truly believe I would let you fall?"
"No,"
"Well, good, then."
"You never answered my question."
He rubbed his nose against mine, "What question would that be, dearling?"
His breath against my mouth was intoxicating… "Um, the one about what else you're sorry for."
"Ah, that… what did I miss?"
"You called me wretched."
"Did I? And you didn't deserve that from all the mean things you said to me?"
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Goblin boy? Friggin' jerk? Something like that? I am sorry for anything I said in my anger that would make you upset, your royal-ness."
He sat me down with a truly hurt look on his face, "Those I deserved, I suppose…"
Quickly, I did a mental review of the insults I'd thrown at him… what else did I say? "Jareth, I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're getting at here…
He turned his back to me, crossed his arms, and stuck his nose in the air, and… did he just…
Okay, perhaps it was just my imagination, or did he wiggle his rump at me? Oh yeah, he was definitely sticking it out at me, in those tight breeches… I had the horrible urge to just either pinch him or to kick him, or both. But, drat him, he looked over his shoulder before I could do one or the other.
"This," he pointedly wiggled again, "Is anything but pitiful, and I am fully offended."
"Oh," I said, advancing on him, "Well, perhaps you're right," I stood beside him as he smiled smugly at me… I waited until I saw his eyes smugly take in the ceiling of his throne room…
SMACK!
Jareth's face was a mix of horror and shock – holy dang, I wish I'd had a camera right then. He stiffened and slowly turned his horrified face to me.
"You… you… you spanked me!" he said in a wispy voice, his hands rubbing the back of his breeches. I giggled like mad.
"Yes, GK, I did."
"I… you spanked me! I am the Goblin King, and you SPANKED me!"
Flatly laughing now, I did my happy dance over to his throne and seated myself on it, tilting my head to the side and giving him an innocent look. "You deserved it."
He looked away, his eyes wide, still rubbing the back of his pants, "That stung!"
It was like a little child… and it made me laugh harder.
"And now you are laughing at me!" he said, very offended.
I laughed for a few more minutes and then sufficiently calmed myself. He was still giving me a hurt look. I smiled gently at him, "Okay, okay… for calling you're beautiful behind 'pitiful', and for smacking you good, I would like to do something to make it up to you."
He folded his arms and looked at me suspiciously, "What?"
I grinned. This was something I had wanted to do for a very long time, if for no other reason than to watch his reactions to it. And, though I wouldn't tell him this, it would very much be a treat to me as well as him.
"Let me make you dinner."
"I beg your pardon?"
I rolled my eyes and walked over to him, reaching out and playing with his shirt while looking up into his face, "I would very much like to cook and share a dinner with you. Here," I added, when he gave me a questioning look, "In the Underground. You can choose where, and I'll make the dinner and bring it here, and we can share it."
"Hmm," he snaked his arms around me, looking at the ceiling and thinking, "Dinner with you? Anywhere I choose?"
I reached around him and linked my hands behind his back, "Yep. But, I make the food. And we share it."
"Well," his eyes took on a very mischievous glint to them, and he began tracing circles on the small of my back, "It sounds like a lovely night…"
I snorted, "Sure thing, GK. And just for that insinuation…"
SMACK!
"Ow! Wren!"
"Don't be such a baby," I said, "I could have pinched you, instead!"
His eyes took on a dangerous, yet playful, look to them… I squealed and ran off through the castle while Jareth chased me – fully intent on pinching me. "Don't you dare, Jareth!"
"Ah," he hollered as he chased me, laughing himself, "You asked for it!"
A/N: Okay, there we go! I hope you all liked that chapter! Please read and review!
And, once again, a huge thanks to Danika for all her advice!