It was the day after Sarah Williams' twenty-first birthday, and her friends still hadn't come to visit her. Not her human friends, of course, who had attended her combination going-away and birthday bash two nights ago; her friends from the Labyrinth. Her friends that somehow traversed the magical boundary between the world of humans and the world of the Fae, who had faithfully kept her company and visited her whenever she needed them for six years.
It was her last week at home; she was going to spend her final undergraduate semester abroad, studying European folklore before heading off to graduate school. She stood before her mirror, examining her reflection. She looked the same, so her friends from the Underground kept assuring her, but she saw the differences. She was older, even if "older" in this case meant "barely legal" but she could see it even if they couldn't. Maybe it had something to do with being so unchanging themselves, but she loved them for seeing her as they always had.
No one appeared, either in her room or in the mirror. She felt a stirring of concern; they'd never been late for a party before, and this was the last one to be held in her own room, the last one before standing in front of a foreign mirror in a foreign college dormitory. "Guys?"
A sharp bark from behind her caused her to spin around. "Ambrosias!" she cried, going down on one knee to pet Sir Didymus' noble "steed." He wasn't saddled, and warning bells went off at the sight of him looking like a normal dog instead of the mount for a fox-like goblin Don Quixote. "Where is everybody, boy?"
He barked again, then whined and lifted a paw beseechingly. Then he scampered away from her, rearing up on his hind legs to lean on her vanity table and paw at the mirror. "Something's wrong," she said. "I get that now. The only question is, what?" She peered into the mirror's depths as if sheer force of will would allow her to see past her reflection.
No such luck. Ambrosias sat back on his haunches, facing her and panting. Just like an ordinary dog. And, like an ordinary dog, he couldn't do anything to bring her into the world of the Labyrinth. Not that she really wanted to go back there; she'd learned to appreciate the world she'd been born into, and was happy for her friends to visit her rather than risk going Underground to see them.
She shivered. If it wasn't for him, she might be willing to visit there.
Him. The Goblin King. Instinctively, she knew he had something to do with this. Instinct also told her there was only one way to confirm it. One way, the only way, the way she didn't want to try. But for the sake of her friends, she would risk anything.
Even seeing Jareth again.
Taking a deep breath, she said the words she'd never expected to voice. "I wish the Goblin King would come to me."
Her image in the mirror wavered and disappeared. Just like that, Jareth was there. Glaring at her. "What can I do for you, Sarah Williams?" he asked, his voice cold and dangerous. "You've already made it quite clear how little you desire my presence in your life. Why call for me now?"
"What happened to Ludo and Hoggle and Sir Didymus?" she demanded before she lost her nerve. "Why haven't they come to visit me? Did you forbid them?" Behind her, Ambrosias whined and ducked under the bed. Clearly this hadn't been the tactic he'd expected her to try.
Jareth ignored the goblin-dog, shrugging and examining his fingers as if looking for specks of dirt on the immaculate black of his gloves. "Why should I forbid them anything? They've long since proven themselves unwilling to do as I command them; they're your creatures more than mine and have been ever since you ran the Labyrinth."
"Then where are they?" Sarah cried.
"Where are they? As the saying goes, that's for me to know and you to find out," Jareth replied, lips crooked in a cruel parody of a smile. "Would you care to try the Labyrinth again to find them? I'll gladly give you thirteen hours."
She shrank back. "Why are you doing this?" she whispered, bewildered by his attitude. Sure, he'd never exactly been kindly, but he claimed to have done everything she wanted when he'd taken Toby six years ago. Apparently he was no longer interested in playing by her rules.
Suddenly the image in the mirror was gone, replaced by Jareth's presence in her room. Standing in front of her, his glare was even more intense, his mismatched eyes even more hypnotizing than she remembered. He was dressed all in black except for his snow-white shirt, of which only the cuffs and collar showed beneath his jacket, vest and trousers, black gloves and knee-high boots completing the ensemble. Sarah felt dowdy in her jeans and t-shirt, sneakers and ankle socks.
He stepped forward, his smile deepening as she took an unconscious step back. Then her spine straightened and her head snapped up. "I didn't ask you in."
"I don't need your permission to enter your world and never have," was the disconcerting reply. "My only constraints are on bringing you back to the Underground. If you don't wish for it, I can't do it."
He took another step closer; Sarah held her ground, fighting back the urge to turn and run. He had so much more presence than she remembered, and she'd been overawed when she'd last seen him, a fifteen-year-old girl well over her head but knowing she had to fight and win in order to save her baby brother. "But you will wish for it," he breathed, leaning down to meet her eyes with his own. He lifted his hand and ran his finger down her cheek. She flinched away, but not before feeling a shiver run down her spine, half of fear and half of…something she refused to identify.
"You know I swore I'd never go back there," she managed, trying to sound defiant and barely managing frightened.
Jareth laughed and grazed her shoulder with the backs of his fingers. Sarah jerked away, but her eyes were uncertain. "Not even to save your friends?" Suddenly he reached up and grasped her chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him, while at the same time leaning forward even more until his lips were barely a breath away from hers. At the last second, just when she was convinced he was going to kiss her, he turned his head aside and spoke in her ear, so softly and yet so clearly: "It may very well come to that, Sarah."
"What have you done to them?" She demanded to know as she pulled away from him and looked at him with disgust.
"I've imprisoned them. And they are to be executed for committing treason by disobeying me. They were not supposed to help you in your journey through the Labyrinth. And I did prohibit them from contacting you but they still went against my orders..." He replied with a bored tone.
"No! You can't do that!" Sarah wailed 'It's not fair!' she thought. She knew she couldn't leave them to that fate. She dropped her eyes to the floor and her shoulder slumped, and softly she said "What do you want me to give you in exchange of their freedom?"
Jareth smirked triumphantly, and replied "Will you stay as my consort for a year and a day in exchange for the release of your friends, or will you say no, at which point I will return you Aboveground, to remain there for the rest of your natural life. As your friends will continue to rot for the rest of theirs,"
Sarah felt bile rising up her throat and swallowing hard, she started to think of another alternative. Anything but the one Jareth was proposing to her. Jareth cleared his throat impatiently and said pointedly "A simple yes or no will suffice. I do not have all day...If you don't give me an answer now, I will take it as a no and I will take my leave..."
Sarah noticed her was retreating and said "Wait wait! Don't go...I...I..."
Jareth's eyes glinted with satisfaction at seeing her so vulnerable. Oh he would make her pay for the humiliation she had submitted him to when she defeated the Labyrinth and refused his offer. This was his revenge for all the nights he was hunted in his dreams by her cruel eyes. Since the moment he had laid his eyes on her, he had desired to possess her and his pride had been wounded when this mere mortal girl had defied him and had defeated him in his own game.
"I am a King after all dear Sarah...I have responsibilities to attend to, and therefore my time is limited..." he said pointedly.
She looked up and was staring into his mismatched eyes, looking for pity and finding none. "Fine," she whispered. "I agree."
He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Say the words, Sarah. Say the words."
Damn him and his obsession with formula. Sarah wet her lips and spoke: "If you set my friends free in the morning and promise never to punish them for visiting me again, I promise to stay here in the Underground with you for a year and a day," she swallowed, forcing the rest of the words out: "as your consort."
He smiled triumphantly, then seized her in his arms, turning her to face him, forcing her head back as he kissed her. Once again she was stunned by the intensity of her own reactions, the heat that coursed through her even as she instinctively fought to free herself. Too late for that, her mind whispered as Jareth forced her mouth open, as his tongue darted in to joust with her own, as his hands busied themselves with keeping her body tight against his rock-hard form.
When he pulled away from her, Sarah found herself in the Goblin King's Royal Chamber. The first thing she saw was the bed and that caused a cold feeling to creep up from her stomach throughout her whole body. Swallowing hard, she pushed the Goblin King away from her. He stared at her with a feral grin and said "You can't change your mind now, precious..."
'What have I done?' Sarah thought with panic as the Goblin King started to get closer to her.
((Anyone who likes the Labyrinth? I would really like to try this one out. I'd like Sarah to be forced to come to the Underground. However, eventually Jareth and Sarah do admit they love each other. Jareth at first will say he brought her for revenge but will later change the way he treats her to actually show her he loves her. Sarah will not trust him for forcing her to be his consort. After all, as his consort, her freedom is taken away and she has to submit herself to him. So Sarah won't believe him when he declares his love for her and she'll have to get over that to see he's being really sincere...so anyone up for this? I am!!! Send me a PM please...))
Jade_NightWarrior Community Member 
|
|
