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Falling --COMPLETED	By : jinx1764 Category: G through L > Labyrinth Views: 10231 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, don't make any money, this is a work of fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Gradually waking as his body warmed to normal temperature, Jareth's mind remained foggy and his awareness indistinct. He knew his abductors' names, Chet and Len, and he knew they returned home and intended to give him to a person called Fixer. Hours later, however, and the most he'd been able to do was twitch and fuss on the horse's back, gleaning no additional information. Currently he listened with stiff, aching muscles as Chet gain them entry somewhere.
He wanted to move. Bloody hell, he wanted to roll off the damned horse so badly for various reasons, starting with relieving his mashed bladder and then on to more important ones, such as beating the two kidnappers to pulp and escaping. But his damaged muscles refused to listen to his brain's partially alert commands. It made him wonder again, if he'd still be alive if not for his fae constitution - he suspected not.
More chatter with another new voice, shrieking metal and dimming of the harsh light before the ground sloped sharply beneath them. The horse's gait became a bit prancier, as if excited, and a bolt of anxiety zapped down Jareth's spine.
This can't possibly be good. The light dimmed further through his closed lids. The redness darkened as the previously, ever present glow through the thin skin finally gone. The horse stopped. A familiar voice cut the haze of his injuries and settled in his gut like bad venison stew, except it was slightly different - harsher, crueler, more callous - as if that were possible.
The abrupt loss of the prickly, sloping back underneath his stomach as he slid backwards made his head swim, and the hard landing on what felt like packed dirt didn't do his back any favors either. Moaning, Jareth thrashed awkwardly, trying to clear his tangle hair from his face. Unfortunately, his arms and legs were achy, sore and protested even casual use.
"I can't believe you brought the fucking Goblin King here!"
Good Gods! That voice again, it is her! Gummy eyelids unpeeled, he blinked rapidly at the stranger once so familiar. Sarah Williams.
Sarah Bloody Williams!
He growled, inhuman, low in his throat and loud enough to cause the two guards at the tunnel entrance to raise their weapons. Chet gave him a startled look, and Ole Bay shimmied back, nearly trampling a squeaking Len. Sarah, however, stood her ground and sneered; somehow the twisted smile softened her harsh features. He marveled at the massive alteration in her appearance, once so innocent and fresh.
"Don't bother trying to frighten me, Jareth. I'm long passed your trickery."
Hissing, he returned her sneer (which was significantly less intimidating since he was lying flat on his back like an overturned turtle). "MY trickery?" He struggled to push himself upright onto his trembling elbows. "My dealings with you were always honest-"
"Honest!" Sarah took one, stomping step closer.
"WITHIN the purview of the rules governing the game since ancient times."
"WHAT?"
"While you..." Jareth rolled to one side in order to better force his body to a sitting position, his snarled hair falling over his eyes as he tried to glare at her. His arms quivered trying to support his weight. "...have done nothing but reign destruction upon my world!"
"Me? What about your vengeance on my world?"
A small muttering crowd gathered around the two. So focused on each other, neither noticed the humans standing loosely around them in a circle.
Jareth struggled to crouch to his knees upon the hard packed dirt. "I've done no vengeance upon your world!"
"Don't lie, Goblin King. I know what you're capable of, and this new world," she flung her wiry arms wide, "bares your hallmark!"
Scoffing, Jareth eased to his feet, carefully gaining his balance. "I did no such thing," he said so softly that several people dared to lean closer to the infamous Fixer. "This new world, as you said, is all your doing, Sarah Williams." Gasps followed his accusation and Sarah's response faltered for a half a heartbeat, her face twisting in pain then disbelief.
"You're lying," she answered just as softly, fists clenching at her sides, teeth grinding.
"You know I'm not."
"You couldn't stand losing to me, so you punished the entire world, didn't you!"
He shook his bowed head, "Still the arrogant, self-centered child," then faced her again, and smirked. "Though not such a child any longer I wager," he said sarcastically.
"I hate you!" She lunged forward, arms upraised. "I FUCKING HATE YOU!" Her fists connected with his flannel covered chest, her full weight landing and causing him to tumble backwards. They landed with a dull smack on the dirt, Jareth straining to keep Sarah's clawed hands from alternating strangling or scratching him.
Bloody hell, she's strong! Or I'm weak from this misadventure.
"Feeling's mutual!" he yelled into her face inches from his then shoved her to one side, sending her into a crab-crawling sprawl. The stunned and silent crowd leapt backwards, giving them space.
"What the fucking-a hell is going on?" a man's commanding voice cut through the crowd along with his bulk. Jareth jerked around as Sarah jumped to her feet, a sullen (but not regretful) expression on her face.
Finding his voice in the shock of watching the stranger and Fixer wrestle, Chet answered, "Uh, little disagreement on bringin' in a survivor, boss."
"Disagreement?" Sam said, crossing his thigh-sized arms over his chest and staring down the crooked bridge of his nose. One too many breaks had caused it to heal badly, leaving it off center and full of character, just like its owner. "You wanna fill me in, Fixer?"
Sarah brushed off her threadbare, drab fatigues before meeting Sam's querulous gaze with her a rebellious tilt of her head. "He's not welcome here. Kick him out."
Sam raised one brow. "Against your own rule?"
"I said he's not welcome!"
"And why's that?" Sam huffed, irritable, but far calmer than any other would be facing Fixer's mutable emotions.
"I don't need to explain my reasons to you."
The crowd muttered and Sam's jaw and arms tightened. "Fixer," he said in a stern, warning tone.
"She called him Goblin King at first, Dad." Sarah shot Len a death glare and he shrank back behind Ole Bay, who was finally settling down again.
"And just who is the Goblin King?"
"He's an evil, vindictive fae!" Sarah said, flinging her arm back toward where Jareth was struggling to stand again. "He's responsible for the Shove!" Her declaration brought forth noisy grumbling from the growing audience; even Sam's eyes pinched.
"That's a big charge, putting the fault of the world's change on one man. You sure 'bout that?"
"You doubtin' me now?" Sarah moved into Sam's personal space, all angles and elbows pushing his triggers. A tense quiet blanketed the area while the two main power brokers of the compound faced off. Fixer and Sam fights weren't unusual; Sam publicly doubting Fixer was.
"I did not cause this damage, what you call the Shove," Jareth said. His softly insistent voice shattering the shaky truce neither Sarah nor Sam seemed quite ready to break. Jareth saw a sort of relieved relaxation pass over Sam's face as he looked over Sarah's shoulder at him.
"And why should I believe you over Fixer?" Sam asked, voice more threatening than his body language.
"Because I journeyed here to repair the damage to both our worlds, the damage caused by her." Jareth nodded towards Sarah; she snarled at him, everyone else gasped.
Uncertain which portion of Jareth's confession held more shock value, Chet exclaimed, "I knew he wasn't from 'round here!"
.
.

JSJSJSJSJSJSJ

.
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"Now explain to me exactly what the hell is going on and how the fuck do you two know each other?" Sam demanded after shutting the door to his private office. His cooler head decided that having a detailed discussion about the Shove and who bared responsibility for it didn't need to done in front of the entire compound's residence - which continued expanding the longer they argued at the main entrance. Escorting both Fixer and this Goblin King up to the third story balcony, Sam barely kept them from attacking each other before relegating them to opposite ends of his having-seen-much-better-days-pre-Shove-couch. Its springs squeaked as they adjusted and readjusted themselves, both twitchy and staring at the peeling, flaky green paint on the concrete wall.
"Well," he sat on the ancient gray metal and green vinyl office chair, leaning it back, "who wants to start?" Silent pouting. "Anybody? I don't care who."
Sarah twisted, arms crossed, scowl firmly in place. "You expect me to believe you're here to help?"
"Of course I don't expect you to believe me." Jareth spun his torso to face her. "You're a spoiled brat!"
"And you're an arrogant ass!"
"But not a vengeful one!"
"You admit it!"
"I admit nothing!"
"I knew it! I knew you were the cause of everything! I always said..."
"I am no such thing you stupid bint! You, however, you're most definitely..."
"SHUT UP!" Sam's shout, over their gradually rising voices, echoed in the mini-concrete bunker of an office. His chair squawked and rattled when he forced it back into its normal, upright position too fast. Jareth and Sarah jumped and swiveled in his direction, both flushed and wide-eyed.
"If you both could stop arguing for two minutes and explain instead ... please?" he said in a strained voice, trying to sound nice.
Sarah picked at a stray thread from the couch. "I knew him a long time ago, pre-Shove."
"She faced my Labyrinth."
"I beat your Labyrinth, you mean," Sarah said with a smirk.
"You have no idea what you're talking about, little girl." Jareth ground out through a spasming jaw.
"Okay, what's a Labyrinth?" Sam asked, head ping-ponging between them.
"It's a challenge spoiled humans face to learn important lessons."
"I faced it to win back my brother!"
"Whom you wished away in a fit of spoiled rage, hence the need for you to grow up."
"Grow up? I think you took care of that the next day when you took your revenge."
"I did no such thing!" Jareth said then frowned. "What exactly do you think I did?"
"Don't play dumb! You trapped Hoggle and the rest here, wouldn't allow them to return, and then you destroyed the Aboveground, made them ... made us all..." her voice cracked and she abruptly faced away, covering her face with her hands.
Speechless at the sudden, confirmed knowledge of his disloyal subjects, Jareth waited a moment before responding. "So they were trapped as I suspected." His lips thinned and blanched as thoughts of their suffering coursed through his mind. "And the ... damage, the Shove. It started shortly afterwards?"
"You know it did." Her hands muffled her angry voice.
"Enlighten me. How soon afterwards?"
"A few days..." A sob filtered through her blocking hands, and Jareth fell silent. Sam cleared his throat, suspecting they both had forgotten his presence during the tirade. Only Jareth met his eyes, and both felt the unspoken confusion thickening the atmosphere.
"I don't know who or what caused the Shove," Sam said, "but it's obvious to me that of you both know a helluva a lot more about it than anyone else I've ever met. Especially you, Fixer." Sarah sniffed again and lowered her hands to meet Sam's look. "This is the first I've ever heard you talk about your pre-Shove time, and you know..." Sam scrubbed his face, "you know crazy things about it. But then given your talents, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. And you." Jareth cocked an eyebrow. "You mean what you said about being here to fix it? The Shove?"
"Yes, I am. If I may?" He indicated a desire to dig through his clothing and Sam nodded. Jareth lifted his shirt, exposing the small pouch neither Len nor Chet found and emptied its contents - the jagged lode rock. Which currently emitted a steady red glow, no blinking or flickering whatsoever, Jareth gasped. "Bloody hell, the nexus is here."
"The what?" Sam asked. Even Sarah ceased crying and examined the curiosity resting in Jareth's hand.
"The nexus, that which I am here to locate and repair, that which can bring both our worlds back to full health," he said, awed. How oddly fortuitous, he added to himself. Then his head turned towards Sarah and it all clicked into place.
"You're the nexus," Jareth said, horrified.
Now what?
- 7
- 8
- 9
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Falling --COMPLETED