Seeking Help...

She held the faded cranberry book to her chest and took one last quick glance at the other book in her lap. She closed her eyes and tried desperately to block out the sound of crying that filtered up the stairs into the attic. Again she was crying and this was the only think she could think of. Only he could help her heal. Only he could make her happy again.

She clutched the book so tightly in her hands that her knuckles turned white. She took a deep breath, eyes still closed, her long dark hair cascading down her shoulders. She tried with every fiber of her being to believe. To believe that everything that she had read was real. That he was real. She took another deep breath and opened her mouth to speak.

"I don't know if you can hear me. I don't even know if you are real. But I wish that the Goblin King would come to me.....right now! Please?" she added for good measure.

Jareth heard someone summoning him. Occasionally someone would summon him. Some poor soul wishing for their brother or sister back. Wanting to challenge his Labyrinth again so that they could regain what they had lost. It struck him as amusing that only the ones who lost ever called for him. But then again only one had ever defeated him and she had never called again.

The voice seemed to echo on the wind. The wind that brushed against his face, blowing his silky blond hair back from his face. He listened to the voice and realized it was a voice he did not recognize, yet there was something very familiar about it. He closed his eyes, listening to the voice over and over again, trying to figure out why it should be familiar. It was nagging him. He couldn't figure the voice out and that was disturbing to him. In seconds he was no longer a shadow against a full moon, he was an owl as white as snow.

 She let the book fall from her grasp and she was ready to begin crying herself. She could still hear the sobs coming from downstairs. She had failed. It was the only thing she could do to help her and she had failed. Tears filled her green eyes as she rose from sitting indian style on the old creaky floors of the attic. She had failed. Angrily she tossed the cranberry book across the attic where it hit the low, sloping ceiling with a thud. She was getting ready to throw the other book too when a wind swept through the attic. She could hear the rustling of what sounded like clothing behind her and she turned very slowly.

She gasped, dropping the book on the floor at her feet. He stood tall and menacing with a look of royalty and arrogance to him. He was beautiful with his pale, glittery skin that looked as smooth as fine porcelain, his wild, blond hair that cascaded down his shoulders in varying lengths. He was dressed in black. A black open fronted silk shirt with a ruffly collar and some strange metal object dangled over the pale flesh of his chest. A high leather collar around his neck with a cape that tapered from it. The cape was black on the outside, with different lengths of fabric and the inside was a shimmering dark turquoise. He wore tight black pants that were tucked into shiny knee high black boots. His hands were encased in black leather. His brows tilted up at the ends with pale pink makeup between the ends of the brows and the triangles of black that extended up from the corner of each eye. And his eyes...one was a crystal blue and the other was hazel. They widened as he gazed down at her. The descriptions in the cranberry book failed miserably when it came to describing him. Only the faded blue book with bent corners from being shoved too quickly into dresser drawings came close the describing the man who stood before her.

His eyes widened as he took in her appearance and his breath caught in his throat. Standing before him, but so much younger, was nearly an exact copy of the girl who had once defeated him. The girl who had stolen his heart and left him to spend the past twenty years alone in grief, striving to survive. But this was not her. There were subtle differences is his memory served him well, but there was no mistaking that this girl looked almost exactly like Sarah....

"Mommy look who I brought home...

"You're him. You're the Goblin King." Words uttered so long ago, said again. But there was no fear that accompanied the words this time around. He studied her. The same long dark tresses, those same haunting eyes, filled with the same strength and determination. The child before him seemed to be on a quest. A quest for him it seemed.

He nodded slowly, never letting his eyes drift from her form. She was much younger then Sarah. Had time somehow been reordered aboveground? No..she wasn't Sarah. There were differences. She didn't have quite the same nose and she was thinner then Sarah had been. His eyes widened in surprise when the child stepped forward. She was a brave little thing and she couldn't be more then 7 or 8 years old. Such strength and courage in one so young.

"I know what your job is, but I was hoping you wouldn't do that right now."

An elegant eyebrow arched up. "And what is it exactly that I do?"

"You steal little children."

"What makes you think I won't 'steal' you?" He put his hands on his hips seeing if he could frighten her. It didn't work. She only stepped closer to him.

"Because I didn't call you to take me away. I called you to come visit me."

"And what could a little thing like you, want with me?" He tilted his head to the side, regarding the child before him.

The child bent down picking up a faded blue hardcover book. The edges were bent and there were scratches and marks on the glossy cover. There were faded stickers on the book, of unicorns, dragons and castles, with brown along the edges of them where dirt and dust had caught and stayed over the years.

"I don't need you, but someone very important to me does. She won't stop crying. She's sad all the time. Sometimes I can make her smile or laugh but it doesn't last. She used to be so strong..." She seemed a little nervous and The Goblin King was amused and perplexed by this. She flipped nervously through the pages of the book. "Please will you help her? You can make her happy again."

"I don't exist to make people happy. I exist to frighten them."

"And you did frighten her once, a long time ago. But she's a grownd up now and she won't be frightened anymore. Besides she loves you..."

"No one loves me." He said harshly.

"She does too. I read it here in this book." She held up the faded book in her hands and Jareth suddenly realized that it was a diary.

"You shouldn't be snooping in things that don't belong to you." Jareth scolded her even though her words excited and frightened him.

"I didn't mean to snoop, honest. I came to look for something to make her happy and I found the books."

"Who do you speak of? Who do you want me to help?" He asked tilting his head back and peering down at her along the length of his nose.

She took a deep breath. "My mommy."

"And who is your mother?"

"The one who beat your labyrinth to get my Uncle Toby back. Her name is Sarah."

A shuddering breath escaped the Goblin King's lips before he could stop it. If the child noticed his reaction she didn't acknowledge it. She simply stepped forward and took one of his hands into hers as if it was the most natural gesture in the world. She tugged on his hand, attempting to pull him with her towards the ladder that dropped down from the dark attic to the light of the hallway at the bottom of it. Jareth planted his feet firmly, his mind filled with images of the past and the little girl's words that kept echoing through his mind over and over again. * She loves you... *

"C'mon." the child said a little too whiny. " She'll be so happy to see you again."

The Goblin King shook his head, his blond hair swirling around him like a golden mane in the wind. The child obviously cared for her mother and believed that by bringing the Goblin King back into her life would make her happy again. Her mother... Sarah. His Sarah. The very one who still haunted his dreams every night. The same Sarah his heart longed for, even after 20 years.

"She will not be happy to see me. She could not possibly feel anything other then bitter hate for me." He was still shaking his head, trying to force himself to believe that Sarah could never love him. It just wasn't possible.

"She doesn't hate you. Well she didn't like you very much at first but as she got older she loved you."

"No." he told her.

"Yes. Would you like to read it for yourself?" She offered the book to him.

He shook his head at her, backing away from the book as if it were some dangerous magical talisman. "I will not read the book. It wasn't meant to be read by anyone other then the one who wrote in it."

"How do you know that?"

"Do you know what a Diary is?" She shook her head. He should have expected as much. "It's a book that people write in to get their thoughts out of their mind. It comforts many to write something that troubles them, or excites them. It's a private book, not meant to be read by other people."

"Oh. I told you I didn't mean to."

"Regardless, you still read it and now you are trying to get me to read it."

"I'm sorry. I'll put it away before mommy gets mad." She walked over to a small wooden chest and opened it. He noticed that it was filled with many old things from Sarah's room. Things he recognized from her childhood. The music box with the dancing girl, her stuffed animals and many of her books. She had obviously closed that chapter of her life, by putting those things in the chest. He was certain she would not wish to see him again.

He felt the tugging on his hand again and he looked down to see that the little girl was again trying to get him to follow her. He didn't want to go, yet he did. He longed to see Sarah again, yet he was afraid. Afraid? The Goblin King should fear nothing, especially a depressed mortal woman.

"What is your name?" he asked stalling her.

"Aryanna."

He mouthed the name. It was definitely a name he would imagine that Sarah would name a child of hers. Obviously she had not given up completely on fantasy. He peered down at the little girl who still held his hand and was not frightened of him in the least. She was a beautiful child, who had many of her mother's characteristics, yet she was her own person. She no doubt looked like her father as well. Her father. The Goblin King suddenly envied the man who had fathered the child that held his hand, whoever he was. He would have given anything to be that man. The thought startled him but he didn't deny it.

"Why is your mother sad?"

"Because of lots of things."

"Name them."

Aryanna let go of his hand and made a gesture that she was thinking very hard. "Well...daddy left her for one."

One of his brows rose. "Your father left her?"

"Mmm hmm. Before I was borned. She said that she didn't try hard enough and that she made mistakes that made him go away. But Uncle Toby says it wasn't her fault. He couldn't handle re...resp..."

"Responsibility." He finished for her.

"yeah! How did you know?"

"Call it a lucky guess." He didn't envy the man anymore. What a foolish, foolish mortal. To leave the most incredible woman in two worlds. He had no doubt left Sarah after he realized that she was pregnant with his child. It wasn't unheard of, it sometimes happened within his own realm.

"And she says that we never have enough money. She works all the time and there is never enough money. She's afraid that we're going to lose the house. This was Grammy and Grandpa's house before they went to heaven. They left it to mommy. And...she has problems with the people at work. Oh yeah and the car keeps breaking down. It's really old but it's alls we got. And I think she's lonely and I don't know why because I'm here and Uncle Toby comes to visit all the time with Cheryl. That's his girlfriend. Mommy says they might get married soon and that I will be the flower girl."

He missed everything she said after the words. 'I think she's lonely.' He should have enjoyed gaining that information. It meant that Sarah's life wasn't the perfect little fairy tale she wanted it to be. She had suffered as he had. But the words upset him more then made him feel better.

"Where is she?" he asked quietly.

Aryanna stopped her rambling and looked up at the Goblin King. "She's in the living room. She always sits in the big rocking chair and cries. Sometimes she falls asleep there. But she's not asleep yet, because I can still hear her crying."

"Take me to her." He commanded. He didn't have to offer her his hand because she snatched it eagerly, pulling him down the stairs of the ladder with her. He could hear the sniffling noises as they entered the lighted hallway. They passed by one room with the door slightly ajar that made him stop dead in his tracks. 20 years ago he had entered that room to challenge Sarah.

Aryanna tugged at his hand and he followed her once again. They walked down the creaky blue carpeted stairs that led to the first level of the house. He stopped dead in his tracks as they ventured near the doorway to the room he knew would be the living room. He put a finger to his lips so that the child would keep quiet. He peered very slowly into the room and he felt his heart leap into his throat.

She was there, rocking ever so slightly in a large oak rocking chair with a floral cushion tied to the seat. Her hair was still long and dark, pulled half up. She was much thinner then he remembered and it was no doubt due to the stress she had faced.

"Wait here." Aryanna whispered to him and before he could stop her, she rushed away from him and into the room.

"Mommy mommy, I have something I want to show you." The little girl stepped in front of her mother.

Sarah extended a hand and smoothed back her daughter's dark hair from her face. "Not now, sweetie. Mommy needs to be alone, ok? Why don't you go watch some tv?"

"Ok, but first I have to show you something. Stay here and don't peek ok?" Sarah nodded ever so slightly and peered out the bay window to her right. Aryanna rushed from the room and took a hold of the Goblin King's hand. His heart was thundering in his chest like a herd of wild horses. He feared what her reaction to him would be. He feared what his own reaction would be to seeing her again.

"Ok Mommy, you can look now. Look who I brought to cheer you up." Sarah turned and her eyes widened. There standing in her living room with her daughter holding his hand, was the Goblin King.