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Oh, Now Why the Concern?	By : jinx1764 Category: G through L > Labyrinth Views: 11163 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, don't make any money, this is a work of fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 8
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A Plot for Romance

Saturday Afternoon in the Underground-prior to last chapter but after the kiss.

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Immortal life was good - very, very good. Jareth reached this highly important conclusion the morning after stealing his kiss from Sarah. Having ended up sleeping in, because he spend the better part of his remaining night reliving the moment his lips met her cheek, he needed additional recuperation lest he face her again unprepared. Wouldn't do to appear anxious in her presence; he was, after all, the Goblin King. Mortals quaked because of him not the reverse, etc, etc.

But he was ... anxious that is. He couldn't stop thinking about her. How she stood up to him with her sharp wit and sarcasm. Her bravery and self-sacrifice in the face of Aboveground stresses for Tobias's benefit, and of course her rare beauty and ability to unravel his magic along with his heart. All were challenges teasing and tempting him. They reeled him in without hope of release, until he realized he must ensnare her as well within the trap of her own creation, however unintended.

He suspected she guarded her heart as vigilantly as she guarded her brother. And why shouldn't she?  Her life virtually attacked her since her parents' tragedy. Mortal concerns were such drudgery.  So, he needed a plan, something to soften her emotions in regards to him and lighten the load of her life. He needed romance.

Hence the reason he lingered in the Royal Gardens Saturday afternoon completely and utterly dumbfounded with indecision. He'd always known, bragged even, of the extensive array of stunning flora to be found only within his gardens. Now he regretted his braggadocio tendencies for they were certainly not empty boasts.

His choices were endless.  Hundreds of rare and glorious species of flora decorated the ancient stone walls of the sprawling garden: flowers of every conceivable color, size, shape and scent, with leaves and without, with multiple blooms or single, and with poison thorns and without.

'Hmm, definitely blooms without poison thorns,' Jareth thought with a chuckle under his breath, happy to have narrowed the extensive categories by one. 'Wouldn't due to for my Sarah to succumb to an enchanted coma.'  He imagined the likely outcome of such an occurrence and briefly reconsidered the poisoned thorns.  He dreamt of the short period whilst he admired her beauty in close proximity while she remained silenced, until her rare metabolism broke the spell and awoke ... hmmm...

"No, I'd better not," he muttered, even that lovely fantasy was not worth re-earning her ire after such shaky success. He released the indigo petal with a tinge of regret, the elastic vine leaping from his gloved hand.

"You're not going to mess with those are ya, your Majesty?" Hoghead's huffing, grating voice interrupted his musings on his Sarah and Jareth gritted his teeth. "Them's dang'rous!"

"Yes, thank you, Higgle.  I am aware of the properties of the flora in my own garden," he stated imperiously without turning from the wall, his back facing the annoying gardener. He heard Hoghead's ragged breathing approach as he hustled through the manicured lawn.

"Why you touch'em then?"

"That," Jareth spun around with his arms akimbo on his hips, his long leather jacket flaring at the ends, "is none of your concern."

With his head slightly tilted, one brow arched and scowl in place, Jareth hardly needed speak another word to force Hoggle into cowering mode. The poor dwarf's bravery, since his unlikely friendship with Sarah, wavered more every passing year after her departure.  Apparently his courage was contagious by association with her physical presence. Once she left, it once again became harder and harder for him to stand up to Jareth. As for the Goblin King, he delighted in reestablishing the rightful order of their relationship and made sure Hogbreath understood it as often as possible.

Shuffling his feet and looking down, Hoggle replied, "Well, I was only askin' cause I didn't want you hurt is all." His ridiculously large lower lip appeared to pout slightly, "She wouldn't like that none."

"She?" Jareth asked nonchalantly. It couldn't be that Sarah still spoke with the little scab, could it? Behind his back all this years?

"Umm..."

"She?" He crouched to eye level with the scab in question, his fingers cupping his chin. His tone made it abundantly clear to Hoggle he'd better answer truthfully or he'd win another Bog vacation.

"You know.  Her ... Sarah..." Hoggle barely managed to mumble and peeked up once to see Jareth's eyes narrow perilously. Oh boy...

"You speak to ... her, do you?"

"Um.  Sometimes, not of'en," Hoggle added quickly when he saw a muscle jump in his king's jaw and the gloved fingers twitch against Jareth's chin.

"I see." Jareth stood, clasping his hands at the small of his back and began pacing. Hoggle dared to look up, keeping his view on the king making a small circuit of the garden in silence. He'd never seen Jareth act in this manner, so he wasn't sure what to think. The king's expression spoke of anger, but his body language suggested a thought process. Uncertain, Hoggle remained quiet until several minutes later Jareth spoke in a clipped voice.

"Higgle," he said looking down upon the dwarf.  "I want you to create a masterpiece for Sarah."

"A wha—?"

"You heard me you overgrown lawn gnome. She deserves something beautiful from my garden and you will create it for her to be delivered by me."

"You wants me to make her a bouquet? From you?"

"Yes, yes, of course I do." He stepped into Hoggle's personal space. "I thought I made it painfully clear."

Nodding vigorously as he backed up, Hoggle said, "You did, yes, I'll get right's to work, I will!" Then he scuttled off to another portion of the garden, far from his king's presence.

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"Excellent." Watching the dwarf rush away, Jareth congratulated himself on a successful delegation of a most frustrating decision. Hoggle obviously knew his Sarah better than he (an observation most keenly agonizing to his pride) however, what better way to win the fair maiden's heart than through the help of her friend, reluctant and threatened though he may be. The little scab really did know the gardens better (another painful blow to his royal smugness) and between his knowledge of the plant life and the stunning Sarah, Jareth was confident the bouquet presented to her would surpass any others Aboveground or below.

Now it was just a case of hurry up and wait for Hogbutt to finish the task. He'd better not take all day. Jareth wanted to return Aboveground quickly to continue his stealthy courtship/anti-depression tactics with Sarah. In addition, he discovered he truly missed Tobias's company as the young mortal was delightful. Unabashed adoration from the boy aside, Jareth found himself enjoying the boy's companionship, curious to see what Tobias might do or say next. He'd always liked the child ever since Sarah wished him away, but at such a young age it was impossible to really know him. Now, well, his initial interest in Tobias proved correct. Bloody hell he liked the boy; convenient since he adored his sister.

Having never courted a maiden to this magnitude (normally a smirk, a wink, and a subtle hip thrust or three with the occasional accompanying music montage did the trick to make fae women fall into his expediently located arms) Jareth was a tad fuzzy on the finer points of slowly romancing a mortal lady. But never let be said he was a fae man not up to a challenge. He rather believed he excelled when faced with any hardship, and wooing Sarah Williams proved to require all his wits.

Striding with a purpose into his castle, Jareth considered his next move. Flowers of rare and unusual splendor: check. What else did mortal men Aboveground use as romantic inducements? Aha! He grinned; a fine wine might do the trick to demonstrate his sincerity. Didn't strike him as particularly original, but Jareth decided he wanted predictable and non-threatening for the moment. Sarah barely trusted him as it was, no need to shake that unnecessarily. So predictable and cliché were probably safest, however, being the Goblin King, he wasn't about to present her with a common vintage.

Off to the his personal wine cellar then, he decided, and strolled through the deepest recesses of his castle to choose from his rarest selection of Underground alcohols. Surely a bottle tucked away in his royal cellar would suit his purposes; he had only to locate the perfect selection and present his gifts before her later tonight. Duly impressed by his thoughtfulness and sincerity, Sarah's resolve to hold herself hard toward him would slacken. He was sure of it.

"Oh yes, my dear, Sarah, you're no match for me," he said, walking briskly through the ever darkening hallways, drawing closer to his hidden cache of rare wines. So intent on his candlelight dreams for his lady, Jareth neglected to notice those which did not belong within his realm.

Normally such beings' existence so near him and especially within his home would immediately alert him, but thoughts of kissing Sarah the night before filled Jareth's head (and other parts of his anatomy) pushing all rational sense aside. His arrogant and ill-timed distraction allowed them an atypical advantage, and as he walked around the last dank corner to the cellar his surprise was complete.

"Aha! Goblin King!" A shrill voice broke his musings, and skidding to a halt, he found himself facing a dozen Banshees - very furious Banshees who floated in a ring of ragged cloaks and exposed fangs. Circling in mid-air, they enclosed him before his second blink and he realized his dire miscalculation. Apparently the Banshee he disposed of at Tobias's school spoke truthfully when she threatened him, and now her friends came to collect their due.

Using his best voice of authority, Jareth said, "You are trespassing, wraiths, and have no rights here." As he spoke he adopted a wide-legged stance and lowered his center of gravity while preparing to conjure crystals. Too soon and they might react at the threat, too late and he risked being overpowered.

One Banshee drifted closer, her emaciated face a few feet from his. "Not interested in rights, Goblin King," she said in her raspy, hissing voice, "interested in revenge against you and your mortals."

"Indeed," he twisted both hands, "then discussion is moot."  He grinned manically showing his own sharp teeth and tossed both manifested crystals at the wraith directly in front of him.  Sneering, he said, "Shall we dance then, ladies?"

Their answering shrieks reverberated in the narrow, stone hall and ruptured his ear drums as they swooped in as a mass, except the one struck by his crystals who writhed on the floor. Jareth flailed, fighting the vicious creatures with his magic as rapidly as he managed to conjure, since no physical weapon harmed them. But every touch of theirs burned and drained him, beating him down and weakening him.

How long they battled Jareth was unaware, minutes stretched into hours until, at last no more Banshees survived and he remained partially leaning on a wall, sucking deep gulps of air. His clothing beyond even magical repair, his face and body a mass of burns and bruises, Jareth collapsed to his knees, exhausted physically and magically.

"Sarah, Tobias..." he whispered. He nearly died this day and he knew more Banshees plotted against them. He must get to them, but ... so tired. His typical means of transport - teleportation - was out of his ability for several hours, possibility days as he healed. Though difficult to kill a fae, it was not impossible, and his generally excessive stamina was stretched dangerously thin presently.

Forcing his pain aside, Jareth rose to his feet, stumbled from the cellar to the upper halls and outside the castle. Still able to transform into his owl aspect since it was a natural part of his fae form, he must fly the long route Aboveground and pray to Danu he arrived in time.

.

Hoggle squinted eyes and shielded his view with an over-sized hand from the setting sun.  The king leapt from a balcony, transformed and flew off in the most ungainly flight he'd ever seen from Jareth.

"Now what?" Looking down at the immense collection of exquisite flowers and plants nestled comfortably in his wheel borrow, Hoggle shrugged at the capriciousness of his ruler. He'd set them somewhere cool for now until Jareth return to berate him for messing up his bouquet plans for Sarah.

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Flying wounded and weakened to the Aboveground took far longer then Jareth hoped, and since time moved differently between the realms, it was after dark two days later before he neared his destination. He knew he wouldn't make it. He felt his strength failing him, his wings flapping frantically to gain altitude until the treetops clawed from him the night sky.  He fell, crashing, into the forest which ended merely yards from the Williams' home.

Flopping helplessly on the forest floor, his magic depleted, Jareth eventually stilled until his body automatically transformed to his natural state. Panting, he raised his head. He could just see the lights of their Victorian style house breaking through the trees. So close!

Bloody gods, he was so close!

"Sarah...Tobias..." Reaching out a trembling hand, he pulled his body forward a few feet before collapsing, unconscious, where he lie for a long while until a piercing cry splintered through his subconscious.

"JARETH!"

"Sarah!" He woke with a gasp, his head jerking upright. He felt her fear. She needed him, she called him, willingly. With every ounce left within him Jareth twisted his out flung arm, barely able to focus his will through his pain.  A crystal formed in his palm, and he softly uttered a single word.

"Fetch."

It zipped from his hand to the house faster than a humans' eye could follow, if one happened to be watching at that moment. Then unconsciousness overtook him again, and his head fell to the ground.
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Oh, Now Why the Concern?