Disclaimer: Henson's 'da man...or was. Miss him bunches. Anyway, AN 
at end.


Chapter 6: Little Girl Lost

Jareth stepped to the window overlooking his kingdom, angered from 
the Williams woman's advances towards him. Yes, the woman was 
undeniably beautiful in apperance, but she had so many counts against 
her--married, career driven, selfish, negligent mother--she wasn't 
even worth a second thought. Linda wasn't the first to try to charm 
their way to his castle, and she probably wouldn't be the last. He 
might have even chosen to have a little fling with her had he not 
already gotten a taste of her heart through the words of her 
daughter. Linda was cruel, cruel enough to threaten her child when 
one so young couldn't possibly have done anything to be given such 
hateful words. To spend time with her would be like spending time 
with a snake ready to strike; why waste his heart on such poison. 

He could still have fun with her. He watched through his crystal and 
laughed as his outer soldiers tormented the woman; her shrieks could 
even been heard over the noise of the goblins. Jareth smiled with 
satisfaction, even though Mrs. Williams had gotten away from his men. 
He'd let her rest a while until he could come up with something else 
to throw at her. 

Jareth heard the child giggle from somewhere within his throne room, 
but he couldn't see her. He would have thought something as bright as 
her pink footy pajamas would not have gotten lost against the grey 
stones of the room, but where ever he looked, all he could see were 
obnoxious goblins stumbling or frolicking about. He didn't care much, 
though. She didn't want him near her anyway. 

Walking to his throne, Jareth tripped on something, a stuffed toy of 
some sort. He raised his eyes to the ceiling, giving a slight rumble 
in this throat before snapping his eyes to those surrounding him. 

"Who's is this?" He held up the toy for their inspection. 

The goblins, who had been acutely attentive as his initial inquiry, 
suddenly ignored him, going back to what they were doing and moving 
away. They could tell from his tone, who ever owned whatever had 
disturbed his majesty could get punished. Better they all pretend 
they didn't know what he was talking about then to get thrown in the 
Bog just for looking at him. 

Jareth sighed roughly and threw the object to the ground. He'd keep 
an eye on it; the owner would eventually go for it, and then he could 
remind them strongly that their personal items were not to be lying 
around HIS throne room. Throwing himself down on his throne wasn't 
always the best thing he found himself doing beings that it had no 
cushions and wasn't a comfortable shape, but the pain never stopped 
him. Sometimes he liked it. It was the only thing that reminded him 
he was alive, that he wouldn't have to bare such an existence for 
eternity; he was more vulnerable to death thanks to his human side. 

He was glad few had been wishing children to him over the decades. 
For one thing, he definitely didn't need any more goblins running 
around, and another, the only other option he had to do with unwanted 
children was to give them to the other kings, which he hardly agreed 
with. The fewer who entered his kingdom, the less he had the pressure 
of making life altering decisions. 

A sound tickled Jareth's ears over the chatter of the goblins, a 
sound that he heard nearly every time one was wished to him and it 
annoyed him to no end. The child was crying. But it didn't sound 
like the normal crying of other children he'd heard, who had merely 
cried in confusion of their unusual surroundings; the child, were 
ever she was, was quite frightened…and she wasn't in the throne room.

"Quiet!" Jareth shouted to the goblins so loudly, they ceased their 
prattle so much one could hear an egg drop.

He listened for where the child had gone and found her voice to be 
echoing from the room he liked to deem his thinking room. The room 
had no name, for there was none like it. It was the true center of 
the Labyrinth, its heart and where the gateway was physically, though 
invisibly located. The room itself was created around the gateway 
with stairs that led nowhere, false archways, misleading doors so 
that if the humans passed through, they would have a very difficult 
time finding their way out. 

It served it's purpose well. Even now the child wandered within it, 
crying for she had lost her way. Jareth was intrigued as he watched 
her; despite being terrified, she was still trying to find her own 
way out, not just waiting for somebody to come and find her. That 
didn't make her any less eager to get to him once she saw he had 
come. She stopped crying a moment, her eyes searching for a way to 
get to the man that was above her. Even though her eyes showed it 
was too complex for her to figure out, her feet started to take her 
faster. She crawled up the stairs, which were too tall for her 
little legs to walk over, but that didn't stop her speed. 

At first, her determination was amusing to watch. She kept making 
wrong decisions and backtracking over the same set of stairs. But the 
thing is, she kept going. She began to move too quickly for even her 
own body to handle; and that's when Jareth became frightened for 
her. Rarely did his heart ever jump within his chest, but the first 
time she tumbled to the ground, worry struck him; but she got right 
back up and trotted on. She didn't know to be afraid, that if she 
lost contact with the floor, all sense of gravity would be lost to 
her and she would fall to the wall/floor/stairway, whatever was below 
her on the other side. He had to get to her before she hurt herself.

Jareth sighed in exasperation and he made his way to the child. Once 
he got to her, she clung to his leg, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I wanna go home." She whined into his pant leg.

"That may or may not happen." 

He bent over and lifted him to his side. She seemed to have lost her 
fear for him; she just stared at him as he carried her out of the 
proper door and back to his throne room, where he sat her on the 
floor in the pit. 

"You are not to leave this room again. Do you understand?" He tried 
to not to use a tone that might frighten her, but he wanted her to be 
clear on what was expected.

The child looked at him with her big grey eyes and nodded, "Uh huh."

Jareth noticed her face scrunch up as she looked to the goblins 
around her. What could she be curious about?

"Were are the toys?" Her tiny voice finally asked.

He bent down to her and smiled, "If you can find something that 
amuses you…as long as you remain in this room, you can play with it."

Sarah smiled as she got up and ran to find something.

Jareth grinned at her enthusiasm; so like a child to be easily joyful 
from the simplest allowances. She wasn't going to find much in this 
room—maybe a bauble here, a trinket there—but certainly nothing a 
child could play with. He returned to his throne and watch her for a 
moment as she continued her quest, then he reclined, as comfortably 
as possible, back into his throne.

Jareth closed his eyes and leaned his head back; what to do with this 
child, his Quake. She most likely would turn out to be one of the 
more intelligent goblins; however, with what she already knew, she 
might end up becoming insane. He didn't exactly like what he had to 
do with the unstable ones; he once tried to lock them away in the 
dungeons, but no chain could hold them. The only resort he had was to 
throw them into an oubliette, where generally he would find them dead 
by various means of self-mutilation. Something in him couldn't bear 
to see this child doing that to herself. Nor could he see her beaten 
into servitude as a slave. The Labyrinth was right, she had to return 
to her world, be saved from the tortures of his. 

There was only one person he knew of to help him make up his mind. 
Crystal in hand, he searched for his wise man. He wasn't in his 
normal abode; the Williams woman was resting there at the moment. 
Jareth hated having to search for his subjects when he needed them. 
Jareth was surprised to find the man conversing with the huge orange 
mountain of fur known as Ludo. 

"Solon." 

Through the crystal, Jareth saw the long necked bird creature that 
resided on the Wiseman's head quickly jerked it's head about to see 
where exactly the voice had come from, his owner's head turning up to 
the voice only after a moment. 

"Huh?" the old man droned. 

"It's `da king." the bird chirped. 

"Ah..His Majesty." he slowly confirmed, raising his glasses to rest 
on the top of his head. 

"Yes, Solon, I need a word with you." 

"Ah, well...the lesson..." 

The bird rolled it's eyes, "You were getting no wherre with that 
yeti. Can't even say his own name." 

Ludo growled slightly at the bird. "Ludo can." 

"Quiet! Your majesty, what can I do for you?" Solon's voice, though 
energetic, rasped slightly from ages of use.

Jareth sighed, slowly standing from his throne and walking the room 
as he spoke into the crystal, "Well, it's the child. The Labyrinth 
seems to want her to leave, but I cannot see her return with...that 
woman," He spat the words. "Yet if she remains here she'll become one 
of 'them'." 

"Sounds like you'rre in a rrut." 

The old man raised angry eyes to his symbiote, "He is talking to me." 
Solon then rubbed his fingers over the edge of his long white 
mustache, thinking of an answer for his king. His eyes raises 
slightly in thought, then he cleared his throat, "Your majesty, 
sometimes the hardest route is the easiest answer." 

Jareth let the words play around in his head a moment, knowing that 
often Solon never said directly what his opinion was. He still 
couldn't think of what the man wanted him to choose, "Meaning?" 

"Rethink your options." 

"Alright then. One, she remains here as a goblin with a chance of 
becoming insane. Two, save her from becoming a goblin and give her 
over to somebody else who could mistreat her and wound her for life." 
By this time he was pacing the room quite rapidly, totally ignoring 
the goblins that got underfoot, "I can do neither to her. But if 
she returns to Earth, I'm afraid all she'll know is heartache." 

"The heart heals." Solon stated. 

The heart heals. She could survive whatever she might face on Earth, 
have a life safe from magic and torture. Jareth frowned. It was the 
easiest answer, yet the hardest to accept; he would have no control 
over what happened to her on Earth. "Then that is all I can do." 

"Them's the brreaks." 

Jareth slightly laughed, "Yes, well. Solon, I have a job for you. 
You can find the girls mother at the sundial. Teach her your 
philosophy on placing others before oneself. Do not let her leave 
without proving she's understands you."

"And…what of the speech lesson?" Solon asked, indicating to the large 
creature at his side.

"The beast's education can wait. The woman will only be here a short 
while longer. Now go."


AN: Sorry this chapter is so short, but I really wanted to get 
something out for this story since I have been working on my other 
one way to much this week. Hope you were all satisfied…if not, please 
let me know what I can change. I absolutely love your reviews and 
kind words, but if you have unkind words and think I can do better, 
voice it too. Thanks.