It's Only Forever (a labyrinth fanfic)

Chapter 13

Jareth POV: 

The days after Sarah had woken me up were different. She wasn't so quick to leave in the mornings and often I found her wandering around the castle instead of the labyrinth. I wondered if maybe she was going to tell me that she had cancer or give some other explanation as to why she had changed. But  even though she was around more, we didn't talk much. An occasional 'hi', 'bye', or 'sorry I thought this was the bathroom' seemed to be the only words exchanged between us. 

I sat in my throne thinking about this. I wasn't sure if I was glad we didn't talk or slightly offended by it. On one hand, I was terrible at conversation but on the other hand, I was always here so why didn't she ever try to start one? Maybe she was waiting for me to say something. But seeing as though my best opening line is 'hi' and the only other thing I could do was threaten people, I got the feeling that she would be waiting a long time. 

I picked up my crystal and gazed into it. Toby was crying and his useless mother was sitting at the kitchen table, yelling for Sarah to do something about it. It disgusted me that Sarah's stepmother still hadn't noticed her absence. It had almost been a week by this point. It amazed me how one's presence could go unnoticed for so long.

"How does that thing work?"

I looked up and saw Sarah standing in front of me, a curious look on her face. I stared at her, almost looking behind me to see if she was talking to someone else. Her eyes were in my direction though and she stood expectantly, waiting. I stood up and held the crystal out to her, "Hold it."

Sarah looked uncertainly at me but took the crystal in her hands, "Now what do I do?"

I stood behind her and, with my arms on either side of her, positioned her hands on the glass orb. She smelt like jasmine flowers. I leaned to the side to look at her, "What do you want to see?"

Sarah thought for a moment, "I guess um... Fritzy. I always kind of wondered what he did."

I nodded, "Look into the crystal and imagine him. Just his face, nothing else. If you need to, say his name in your head. Don't worry if you get a headache the first time. It happens."

Sarah bit her lip before gazing into the crystal. It took a while, but eventually a fuzzy image of Fritzy balancing a pile of clean laundry came into veiw. Sarah laughed, "Hey, I did it!"

I smiled, loving that I had shown her something that she was excited about. Sarah watched the image before removing herself from my arms and handing back the crystal, "That's really cool but I thought you had to do all those tricks. You know, where you roll it over your arms and stuff."

I spun the crystal over the front and back of my hands, demonstrating, "Like this?" 

Sarah nodded, entranced by my movements, "Yeah, like that."

I stopped the crystal and held it in my right hand, "Not for gazing. For other things yes, but not for gazing." 

Sarah looked around, "So like what do you do? I know that you're the Goblin King and all but... I mean you can't possibly just spend your years staring into glass balls and jumping on your bed."

My face burned with embarrassment, "The thing with goblins is that they're really easy to rule. They need a king and they all know it. So I just keep them in line and make sure the labyrinth runs smoothly. Check on schedules, make sure the goblins follow them, go over imports and exports. And jump on my bed of course."

Sarah laughed, "Aren't you a little old too jump on the bed?"

I smiled and shook my head, "You're never too old to jump on your bed."

The two of us grinned at each other before Sarah shrugged, "But isn't it hard to rule a whole labyrinth?"

I tilted my head from side to side, weighing her words, "It's hard when you're younger but after awhile it just becomes routine."

"What time did you start ruling the labyrinth? Like how old were you?"

I frowned and sat in my throne. Sarah sat on the ground by my feet. I looked down at her, "The thing is with the underground, time and age aren't really relevant in the labyrinth. I could be any age I want to be. See," I joined her on the floor, "There comes a day when you realize that you aren't a certain age. I don't know how to explain it but it's like you wake up one day and you're like 'hey I guess I'm twenty years old' and bam! You're twenty. So, age doesn't really matter here."

Sarah nodded, "Well, in aboveground years, how old would you say you were when you became king?" 

I thought about it, "I guess about thirteen or fourteen."

"Isn't that kind of young?"

I shrugged, "Not to my parents, no. They wanted me to take the throne earlier but I am a very stubborn person."

Sarah looked at me, "You have parents?"

I pulled my head back, "Doesn't everyone?"

She lifted her hands and let them fall back into her lap, "I just never imagined you as a... well an actual person. I don't know. I just kind of figured that one day you just poofed here, all kingly and everything."

I laughed, "All kingly?"

Sarah nudged me with her foot, "Shut up, you know what I mean."

We lapsed into a moment of silence. I looked at my boots and Sarah looked at the braclet she was wearing. Fritzy scurried into the room, "Your majesty, the fireys are setting the woods on fire. They're getting a bit out of control."

I nodded, "I'll take care of it."

The goblin bowed before running out of the room and I stood, looking down at Sarah, "I should probably go."

I extended a hand to her and she grasped it, but as I began pulling her to her feet she gasped and fell to the floor. I frowned, "Sarah?"

She looked up at me with worried eyes, "My side hurts."

I crouched next to her and lifted the corner of her shirt to reveal a patch of skin that appeared to have black ink stuck in her veins, making it look almost like a dark spiderweb tattoo. I gently touched it with two fingers and she winced. I knew what this was. But why? I looked into the dark haired girls panicked eyes, "Sarah, what have you done?"

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Hello lovelies, so first off I just want to apologize for the slow updates. Writers block -_-  

Anywho, I'll dedicate the next chapter to whoever sends me the most interesting riddle (please send me a private message).

Also, you guys have been so great with staying with me on this. I know it may sound routine, but it really does mean a lot to me.

Thank you so much!

As always:

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STAY AWESOME <3

p.s. I noticed some spelling/grammer errors in my past chapters. please please please tell me if you see any. critiques are always appreciated, I aim to please!  ^_^ 

Big kiss class dismissed! <--- anyone else know what book that's from?