The Unwanted Guest

Jareth's side of the story...

      As Jareth closed the door, a giant man overshadowed him. He looked behind him and saw his father, a grizzly man with a mess of blonde hair on his head, much worse then Jareth's hair. Jareth's dad picked him up in a giant bear hug. "Yeah, It's great to see you too Father." he said his bones cracking. "Well son, I heard you got another runner. Good for you, most of us get one every hundred years. Your getting one every ten! So, are they running the Labyrinth yet? Or are you still doing the whole explaining thing. Back in my day, we didn't explain anything to them at all. We tossed them in and they never came out. Look what I found in my Labyrinth last night..." he pulled out a retainer... still attached to the skull. "Score! I'm going to make this into a belt buckle..." Jareth walked away before his father could pull anything worse out of his pockets.

      He rapped three times on the door. Lily answered wearing everything he layed out and she looked stunning. "Hey, what's going on?" she said smiling. "Oh, uh, nothing, nothing, it's just, dinner will be a little late and I have some pest to take care of, so if you could wait a little while longer, it would be most helpful." he said, almost pleading. She looked into the kitchen past Jareth's shoulder and smirked. "So, you're folks are here?" He looked a little puzzled at first but, then he got it and nodded. "Okay, I'll stay out of your hair while your trying to get rid of the 'pest'." she said chuckling. He ran in the kitchen to find his father eating his dinner. "Father! That's my dinner! Ugh! Hey, look the runner is just outside the window!" he shouted as a last result. He father looked up from the bowl of mashed potatoes, "Runnah!" he shouted through a mouth full of food.

      His dad was running so fast, when he reached the window, he literally flew out of it. "Well... problem solved." he said with a smirk. He ran and got Lily before his father gained consciousness. They ate until they couldn't eat anymore, then ate some more. "Um, Lily, I'm afraid I have a bit of surprising news for you... You see that big maze over there?",she nodded, "Well, you have to start over there and get to the center in less then 13 hours, or you'll become a goblin." Her mouth hung open. "What?" she said suddenly. He jumped at the suddenness of her speech. " Yeah, I think I should of explained this to you earlier, Lily." Lily looked at him in rage. "You think!?! You could have explained this to me before!" he saw the fire in her eyes, had to admit to himself that she was cute when she was angry, and then saw she wasn't looking at him with the same loving expression. "Well, I had to make sure you were in a pleasant mood before I told you. I didn't know if you would strike me or not." She looked at him for a moment angrily and then her face seemed to calm and turn to a sweet smile. This not only sent Jareth warnings signs but, it made him feel frightened, how fast her moods could change... if they had changed at all. She walked behind him, laying her hands on his shoulders. He smiled as he felt electricity fly through his shoulders and travel through his body to his brain creating an almost ecstasy moment of weightlessness. "Oh, sweet Jareth, I wouldn't dream of hitting you..." Her hands flew to his throat and the feelings Jareth had before were quickly replaced with fear. His eyes grew large as oxygen slowly stopped circulating. Lily cried out as Jareth disappeared in a shower of silver glitter. Jareth reappeared behind her and held her arms to her sides. "Lily, please stop. You're only hurting yourself... LILY!" he shouted. She stopped struggling and went limp in his arms. He could hear quiet sobs and she spun around and buried her face in his shoulder. His arms pulled her into a tight hug and he held her for a long time. "You are a runner in the labyrinth. I can help with a few obstacles but, all in all, you have to do this by yourself. I'm sorry Lily." he said holding her tighter.

       She looked at him for a second, "How do you know my name?" she whispered. He pulled away from his embrace to stare down in to her eyes. "The goblins tell me about you. What you like to do, what your favorite colors are, what you do in your spare time..." she looked around at the several goblins crowding around her, giving her concerned looks. She smiled at them and giggled at all the smiling goblins that had once been throwing food at her. Jareth grinned as he saw her smile. "Yeah, we all basically know all about you." he said smiling. She looked at him for a second and almost fell, her legs giving way. They knew everything? She then thought of all the embarrassing things she has done when she though no one was watching. "I think I need to lay down for a while." she said, her voice shaky. He looked down at her, "Is there something the matter?" he asked genuinely concerned."No, I'm just a little... tired." she said giving him a nervous smile and breaking away from his hug. He looked at the floor with a  hurt expression on his face. Surprised showed in his face as she ran back in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

       As she ran back to her room, Jareth reached up touching his cheek, he blushed and the goblins were rolling on the floor laughing. The Goblin King glared down at his subjects, and when they didn't notice the intense stare he was giving them, he roared out, "Get back to work!" The room was now filled with screaming goblins crawling over each other to get to the door. He  placed one hand on his hip and the other was grabbing the bridge of his nose, as he thought deeply. He then concluded that he still had time to do some paper work before bed when, he just couldn't resist, he looked in Lily's room. She slumbered soundly, he loved to watch her sleep, her even breathing almost acting as a lullaby for him. He closed the door and sighed. They all had a big day tomorrow.

Author's Note

Sorry this is so short. There's a lot more to come though...