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Nøkken	By : Lily-Beth_Bluebell Category: G through L > Labyrinth Views: 1570 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth, and I make no profit from writing this. It is purely a work of fiction.

Chapter List
- 1-Nøkken
- 2-Chapter 2
- 1
- 2
Jareth was completely numb. From the tips of his toes to his brain, he felt nothing. He supposed that such supreme boredom would do that to a person. Since Sarah Williams had run his Labyrinth almost four years ago, there had not been another runner.
He regretted most of the things he had put Sarah through when she'd been here. He had been surprised to see her again, wishing away her baby brother, but had not been surprised that she had beaten him. Still, she had left him rather heartbroken. He had meant every word he had said to her, and sang to her.
In the beginning, he had not cared much for her. He had still been mildly fascinated by her as he had been when he'd met her as a child, for she still possessed that fire and determination. But it had been his job to slow her progress so that she ran out of time. Of course, even after he'd taken away three hours of her time, she'd still managed to best him. He was sure that he had actually fallen for the silly girl in that dream ballroom of hers. It had been a distraction of his, initially. But as he had watched her, so beautiful and innocent and she searched for him in the bubble, he had fallen for her. He was not sure why, only that he had.
Afterwards, he had not spied on her. She had not asked him to remain in her life. His traitorous subjects, yes. She wanted them to keep in contact with her, but she did not mention him during their little victory party. So he had left her side and had not looked in on her since.
Now, he regretted that. He did not exactly miss her, but he loved her and silently pined for her every day. If only she would wish for him. If only she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
With a sigh of frustration, he got to his feet. The goblins in the throne room flinched, thinking he was going to unleash his infamous temper on them, but he did not. He simply wandered towards the large window that overlooked the Labyrinth and sat on the stone sill. He could see fairies and sprites fluttering around in the darkness. Otherwise, everything was still.
"Majesty!" a goblin shrieked suddenly. "Someone's going to say the words!"
Jareth remained still, not bothering to move until he felt the tugging. When he did, he grudgingly got to his feet and transformed, flying to the Above.
There was screaming. Terrified screaming. The sound filled his heart with dread. This was not a normal calling. He morphed back into the humanoid Fae he was and whipped around for the source.
The park here was different at night. Only moonlight shone down, illuminating the lake. Only it was not still water as it had been before. The liquid was rippling wildly and that screaming was still ripping through his heart. He glanced around and there was that damnable Norse demon. Its expression was feral and full of a kind of frenzied bloodlust he had never seen on it before.
The writhing creature it was trying to drown was hysterical. She screamed and sucked in air when she surfaced, but there appeared to be no one coming to help her. He watched this display unable to do anything. She was not asking for his help, therefore he could do nothing.
She surfaced, spluttering and her eyes met his. Pale jewels. Jade.
"Jareth, help!" she screamed.
"Oh, Danu," he hissed to himself. "Sarah."
Nøkken should not have even been able to return to this lake, not after Jareth had cast his spell fifteen years ago. He did not have time to think about this, though. He quickly produced a crystal in his hand and stood ready to throw it as he stopped by the lake's edge. But it was not just to avoid the water that made him pause.
The creature had stopped trying to drown Sarah, but was standing up straight, looking directly at him. Sarah was facing him too, and Nøkken had his arms wound tightly around her torso, pinning her to his bare chest. She had curled her arms to try to break free of him, but these were now trapped too. Her sopping wet hair clung to her face and she shivered in the freezing water. She was panting heavily and still coughing up some water.
"Goblin King," Nøkken greeted in English, though it was less than friendly.
"Release her," Jareth ordered. "I banished you from this place, you have no power here."
"On the contrary, Goblin King," the creature hissed back. "Now, unless you want me to snap her pretty little neck right here and now, I suggest you remove that little crystal of yours."
He trailed his fingers down Sarah's neck, and Jareth gritted his teeth, but let the crystal dissipate. He was not defeated though. He concentrated on a powerful banishing spell with no visibility. Sarah wriggled in Nøkken's arms.
"Let go!" she demanded, though he could hear the fear in her voice.
"Hush, sweetling," he crooned in her ear. "Men are talking."
Sarah made a disgusted noise then gasped when the grip on her was tightened.
"That is enough, Nøkken," Jareth said firmly, still trying to concentrate on banishing the thing.
"Actually, I am glad you came," he continued as if Jareth had not spoken. "I wanted to make a point to you. I always get what I want."
"As do I," Jareth muttered.
The creature suddenly moved one arm from around Sarah to trail his fingers down her side and around her waist, crossing over her abdomen and dipping downwards slightly. The fingers were hardly a few inches under her navel, but Jareth's anger flared. He fought to keep himself under control. He needed this spell to work.
"And yet here we stand," Nøkken smiled. "Me with the girl and you with nothing."
"Please, just stop this!" Sarah cried suddenly.
She gave another vicious tug, but Nøkken held fast. Jareth breathed a sigh of relief when he felt his banishing spell release. It was perfectly on target too, for Nøkken gave a cry of pain and released Sarah. Immediately, he grabbed her arms and pulled her from the water. In a flash of bright light, the water demon was gone, leaving them alone.
Sarah stayed down on her knees, probably too shaky to stand. He knelt down the way he had fifteen years ago. She was panting heavily again, and though her head was down, he knew she was crying.
"Sarah," he called softly.
She looked up at him. Her lips were tinged with blue and her eyes were brimming with tears. She trembled violently from a mixture of cold and fear.
"Oh, Goblin King," she whispered. "I-I thought he was-was going to-"
"Hush," he told her gently. "He's gone."
She surprised him when she leaned forwards to grip the front of his shirt. Her forehead pressed against his chest as she sobbed. He gripped the edges of his large cloak and put his arms around the girl so that she was protected from the night chill. He wanted to do so much more though. He wanted to pull her against his body and kiss her so hard that it would leave her breathless. But he could not do that. He also wanted her to trust him.
"Sarah, I must take you home," he said. "It's late and your family are surely worried about you."
"They're all in Alaska for the week," she shook her head. "They went to visit one of Karen's sisters."
"All the same, it's cold out," he said.
He straightened up, removing his cloak and draping it around her shoulders. He supposed it was the gentlemanly thing to do. He held his hand out to her and she took it, gripping it tightly to steady herself. Once she was stable, she wrapped her arms around his own right arm tightly. This surprised him too. This scared and shaky Sarah was not the one he remembered. He frowned. Perhaps trying to drown her was not all that Nøkken had tried to do.
Jareth would not ask her about it now though, and he did not shake her off. It was strange, the level of leniency he allowed to her, now and the previous two times they had met. Still, for a little thing, her grip when frightened was hard. He tried to reassure her as they walked.
"There is no need to be frightened, Sarah," he whispered. "He's gone. He's not coming back."
"I know," she said in a small voice, her eyes darting around.
She did not try to make excuses or explain herself. He did not want to hear them, if he was being honest. That would not be his Sarah.
"Th-Thank you for coming," she spilled out.
He said nothing. What was there to say to that that would not arouse some kind of suspicion in her? He was certain she took his silence as cold indifference, but he did nothing to deny this. It was what she expected of him, and as always, he would forever be living up to her expectations.
Sarah fumbled in her pockets for a key. Jareth invited himself inside with her, but she did not protest. In fact, once he was over the threshold, she released him and quickly locked the door behind her. What in the name of Danu was she so afraid of? Surely not Nøkken. He frowned when she double-checked the handle and closed the curtains hurriedly.
The Goblin King was not notorious for his level of self-control.
"What are you so afraid of?" he asked her.
She shot him a look, but he could not tell what it was supposed to say.
"I'm going to get changed into something dry," she informed him quickly. "Make sure no one gets in."
He scowled after her as she hurried away from him up the stairs. How could anyone get into the house after she had just locked and re-locked the door three times?
He could hear her banging around through the ceiling and she was back downstairs quickly, dabbing her hair with a towel. She wore very simple, comfortable pyjamas but she did not look any more relaxed. She rushed past him into the living room and he followed, though he did not sit when she did.
Her legs curled up to her chest as she looked up at him.
"Listen, I'll keep it as short as I can," Sarah said finally. "That thing that you saved me from - Nøkken, did you call him? Well, I was sort of dating him."
"What?" he demanded.
Jareth was familiar with Aboveground terms, but that was what shocked him. Had Sarah Williams gone completely insane after leaving the Underground four years ago?
"It's not what you think," she said quickly. "He wasn't like that before. He was human. He called himself Neal. I mean, I didn't think there was anything wrong with him until he started being...well, mean. At first it was just little things. He kept asking me to go out to the lake two towns south of here but I didn't want to and he started to get mad. Then a couple of weeks ago, I agreed to spend the night at his house."
"Come again?" Jareth asked, not sure he had heard right. If she had been so uncomfortable with this man in the first place, why in the name of Danu had she agreed to stay with him?
"Look, I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do," she admitted. "But I thought...I mean, I was sure that -" She broke off and took a deep breath. "I thought he loved me. I didn't think he would hurt me when I asked to stay inside instead of going out."
"Sarah -" he began, angry now. For one thing, no one would ever love her like he did. And for another, he was ready to kill the creature that had dared to lay its hands on her.
"Please, I wish you would just let me finish."
Bound by the words, he silenced himself and nodded for her to continue.
"Anyways, he wanted to go out to the lake around the back of his house. Always with the damn lake. He wasn't even listening when I told him I didn't like going near water higher than my knees. So, I told him that if he wasn't going to listen to me and was going to keep getting mad, that I would leave him. He said that he didn't care so I got up and I turned to leave."
Sarah's face went slightly pale as he frowned again. Still bound by the wish, though, he made not a sound.
"Then he changed," she said darkly. "I don't know what happened, really. One minute, he was acting like he couldn't care less if I just walked out, the next, he was furious. He grabbed me and hit me. I managed to get away but he kept saying that he was going to get me to the lake eventually. For a while, he seemed to be following me everywhere I went." Her voice was quiet now. "He cornered me in the underpass not far from here but there were cops patrolling, so there wasn't much he could do.
"Then tonight, he called and asked me to meet him in the park. He said that he was so sorry and he only wanted to apologize and play me this song he wrote. I was stupid to think that was all he wanted. When I got there, there was this violin music playing and I couldn't stop myself from moving towards the water. And Neal grabbed me and pulled me in, only it wasn't Neal. It was like he suddenly he had all this power and magic. I didn't know exactly what, but I knew something was wrong, and that's when I called you."
She had finished. She looked up at him as if expecting him to say something, but he did not. He did not trust himself to open his mouth and not rant and shout in anger.
"I know I was stupid," she insisted. "But I really thought..."
Sarah trailed off. Jareth did not try to reassure her that she had not been stupid, because in fact, she had been.
Several things pressed on his mind. Nøkken had somehow been able to live out of water and retain a human form for some time. And he had completely deceived Sarah and hurt her. It did explain why she was so jumpy.
"Say something," she pleaded quietly.
He glanced down at her.
"You know that you could have called me at any time and I would have come," he said.
Sarah looked down, ashamed.
"I know," she muttered. "But -"
"Yes, yes," he brushed harshly. "You thought he loved you."
She looked hurt but he found himself not caring. He was far too angry.
"He struck you?" he demanded.
Sarah flinched.
"On my face, my ribs," she said slowly. "He didn't hit me that hard. I mean, I don't even have bruises any more. But he was really strong. I almost didn't get away."
"Sarah, have you any idea how dangerous that creature is?"
"Not really," she admitted.
Jareth took a deep breath to calm himself before he lost it with her. After all, it was not her fault that she had gotten mixed up with Nøkken again. She had had no idea what he was. He sat in the chair opposite the couch she was curled up on.
He needed her to remember and he sort of hoped that she did not blame him for the events that had recently transpired once she did remember.
"I have a story to tell you."
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