The Labyrinth Universe

Where Eva had carried on a relatively peaceful sleep through the night Jareth's own slumber had not been so calm. For the Goblin King sleep was a reprieve from the demands so often placed upon him while aware. In the realm of his dreams Jareth was not restricted by his title or his circumstances and often times it was during periods of repose that Jareth allowed his mind to wander where it pleased instead of always directing its focus. Sometimes this was of great benefit and other times his mind traveled to places he would have rather avoided.

"William, come and find me!" The voice of a young girl and her giggles rang across his mind as the Goblin King was brought backwards in time to a place outside of the great maze and perhaps even the Underground itself. In away the atmosphere was not unlike the hedges and lawns of certain areas in the Labyrinth however the hedge maze of his dreams was entirely smaller and more personal, not to mention wholly ordinary.

At the younger girl's calling the boy of fourteen put aside the leather bound manuscript he'd been seriously reading under a large tree near the hedge maze and brushed the grass from his clothing before he tucked the manuscript under one arm and with a serene smile that had a sharp edge of intelligence behind it ventured into the maze to find the younger girl per her demands. Everything seemed so light and pleasant.

But as the dream carried forward the blue skies began to cloud over and darken as the wind began to blow and an ominous feeling come over the atmosphere. That's when the giggling ceased and the serene feeling around the boy and girl broke like the dawn and blossomed into confusion and fear. Then came the flapping of wings only instead of being gentle on the cheek the brush was sharp and quick like a razor.

Then came a scream. High and clear and the young man was knocked forward as if something has pushed him and was now restraining the boy in the dirt his hand shackled without iron to the ground so firmly that it caused the boys finger tips to go numb as he tried in vain to pull himself back up.

"William! Help me! Help me, please!" The child's voice was terror stricken and over it the sound of the wind in the tress almost deafening

It was to these screams of distress that Jareth awoke with a rather audible yelp and very nearly fell sideways out of the kitchen chair he'd been sleeping in with his long legs propped up on the table. Luckily he managed to recover himself by quickly pulling his legs down from the table. Of course this by no means relieved the intense tingling that erupted into his hands turning them both sharply into pins and needles as the feeling came back into them. Out of instinct Jareth shook his free hand viciously trying to restore the feeling back in it as he swore and then pressed it between his knees as if that would cause the symptoms to subside more quickly.

"Huh! Bloody nuisance...!" At that Jareth clamped down on the inner part of his bottom lip, biting it to the point of drawing blood in order to confuse the less comfortable sensation. During these seconds of disgruntlement Jareth quite forgot where he was and who was might have been present or within hearing range as he bent forward and pressed his forehead into the edge of the kitchen table. His free had still being pressed between his knees.

The glow of the world outside had seemed to put Eva in a sort of trance, and brought her back to childhood. Her grandmother mentioned how she had tried to prepare Eva for an event like this. An old poem and song flowed their way into her mind, one that used to be her favourite.

In the enchanted forest is where the fairies play,
To get to this place there are some magic words you'll have to say.

Once you see it you will be filled with mirth,
And in this playground t
here are many secrets for you to unearth.

And in this place together once again we will be,
Do not cry my child for you will soon see.

You are part of a family very special,
and a magic item shall be your vessel.

With their ruler the creatures hold back their wit,
But you shall fight back where you see fit.

Your experiences and memories are like the most precious jewels,
And in this place is where the Goblin King rules.

Eva's eyes snapped open at the memory of the old poem, her memories were indeed like jewels. She would have to try to remember more from her childhood, to seek out more hidden secrets that her grandmother may have given. She rested her back against the top of the couch, listening to the ticking of the old clock that was upstairs. The sound was faint, and she had to concentrate to hear it.

A sound of distress brought her attention back. Her head raised, uncertain of where the noise came from. Slowly she raised herself from the couch, and walked out of the living room. Her feet pattered lightly against the hardwood of the floor as she walked into the dining room. She walked towards the kitchen, ignoring the family pictures on the wall that she passed. She peeked her head into the kitchen, and saw Jareth.

Her heart slightly sank, and she internally sighed. Then she walked into the kitchen slowly.

"Jareth..." Eva called lightly, to make her presence known. She walked over to the form of the Goblin King and bent down. She noted how his hand was between his legs, and not really knowing if she could somehow comfort him, she placed her hand on his knee. Her family ring caught her view for a moment, but then she lifted her eyes to Jareth.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Her voice was soft and had a sweet sound. To anyone, this would be a friendly and comforting sound, but she wasn't so sure how Jareth would react. Eva remembered how proud and private he seemed to be, and started to stand up, sliding her hand off of his knee in the process. She found herself beginning to worry.

Instead of taking his head directly from the table, Jareth just pivoted his face to look at Eva. He then sighed inaudibly and straightened back up. "I'm all right. Just a little...Nightmare. Don't worry yourself over it."

From his calm though edged tone it seemed like Jareth was intent on being nice to Eva that morning; although that wasn't to say he hadn't had to think about it first. "You look rested and, I hope, not angry with me anymore. That's good...Being angry won't get either of us very far with each other." The last part seemed to be more to himself rather than to Eva. As if he was reinforcing a point of fact in his own mind so that he wouldn't waste time and effort in the future.

"Feel free to eat something. This all might be an illusion but your stomach won't know the difference, I assure you. And before you ask, which I get the feeling you will, I won't be dinning with you. Eating is not really a necessity in my case and I've mostly lost interest in the practice." He informed her, this time in a more cutting tone that better fit his demeanor.

Eva nodded and walked towards the fridge. As she looked through it, she spoke to Jareth.

"I realized I acted rather...rash last night. And for that, I apologize." She pulled out a bowl of fruit and set it on the table. She leaned to her left and opened a cupbard, expecting to see glasses. Instead there were boxes of cereal. Shaking her head and mumbling to herself about how she needed to visit the house more often, Eva hunted down the cups. She eventually found them and placed two on the table along with different drinks.

"And for my sleep? I had an interesting dream...do you know much about country fairies?" She asked, sitting down. She hoped that would peak Jareth's interest and distract him for a little bit. She grabbed a peach from the bowl, and bit into it and flicked her eyes to Jareth's.

"Help yourself if you feel the need to eat." She said, gesturing to the illusion of food around her.

Jareth stuck to his claims about not being interested in any breakfast and focused on her question instead.

"Country fairies...Yes, in theory. Although I haven't met one in quite some time and you're using a rather elementary term. Generally speaking I assume your talking about the human like things that go about granting wishes or helping wayward people like in your fairy tales. Here they tend to refer to magically endowed people who have a habit of meddling in other peoples affairs whether their invited to or not. Sometimes they have benevolent intentions and other times they don't. It just depends. Most of the times such people govern a certain area or place. Depending on their ability level and sphere of influences this might include whole geographical regions like a country or a very small area like a village or family house. The term Country Fairy in this context describes a person on the latter end of the scale. While their magic and realm of influence isn't very broad, some can become quite proficient in a specific area of magical study and cause quite a bit of trouble if they are sufficiently motivated." Jareth's explanation sounded more text book than anything else. As if he was quoting from something rather than giving his personal impression...Well, mostly anyway.

"Larger magical families tend to have one or two directly connected to them that act as councilors and guides on good days. They're usually blood relations. You could say its something of an occupation. Specific magical places will sometimes have them as well. These free agents, so to speak, will generally hinder or assist whoever crosses their paths." Jareth looked as if he didn't much care for the topic.

"Why? Just what kind of dream did you have?" Jareth's tone teetered on the verge of curiosity now.

As Eva listened to Jareth's explanation, she had stopped chewing to absorb every word. She mildly felt like a student infront of a teacher by the way he was explaining things to her.

"Larger magical families..." She repeated to herself, trying to sort through the new information. Placing the fruit down, she thought back to the dream. She maneuvered her feet to move the chair that was to her side closer, so that she could rest her feet ontop of it. She smiled and could hear the slightest tone change in Jareth's voice. Her feet crossed, one over the other and she shrugged and looked back to Jareth.

"It was my Grandmother, Penny. Seems like you were right in questioning her sudden death." From there Eva began to explain her dream, but she was careful to leave out the part when Penny had called him an ass in certain times, but explained everthing else. She left out no other detail, and paused once in a while to remember the conversation fully.

"And her clothes, beautiful. The moon beams seemed to dance off of them, it was almost hypnotic. They were very strange though-" Her eyes studied Jareth's clothes for a moment, then she shrugged. "Okay, well...maybe not so strange for this place." She decided, spreading a hand, gesturing to the house and the outside, to emphasize her words.

"So...seems like it wasn't a complete accident that I came here." Her lips formed a small smile.

Jareth let Eva explain what had occurred while she was dreaming in the night and managed to keep a straight face while she did it even if the light of her new information caused all sorts of gears to turn and pop under the surface. If Eva was the Granddaughter of...Then that changed a few things considerably. It was important that Jareth be careful from this point out.

"Well...That does explain somethings then. Including where the Good Mother has been for the last sixty years or so. You're grandmother, that's what she was called here once. Her formal title really. She was a kind of resident fairy godmother of sorts. Then she disappeared and other people had to take over her responsibilities. I suppose she's returned now and if she had any idea about what's been going on then she's likely in hiding. Now I have even more reason to take you with me. I don't know where she might be but Meriel likely does. When your ready we'll set out." Jareth was thinking hard now. As scenarios opened up like puzzles across his mind and variables were measured and weighed.

"The Good Mother was right. You are apart of a great legacy. I can only hope we get to where we need to go before anyone else finds out."

If Eva hadn't been sitting in a chair, she may have fallen over. Penny seemed to have been more important in this world then Eva previously thought. And Eva herself was part of a great legacy? She could hardly believe it. She nodded to Jareth's words, and stood from her chair. She was a bit shakey, showing a bit more emotion than she wanted to. She left the kitchen to go back into the livingroom where her shoes were. She quickly slipped them on, and noticed the harder sound they made when her feet connected with the floor. Eva also took this time to calm herself down, and get her head back on straight. She popped back into the kitchen, acting as if nothing bothered her.

"Ok, well...I'm not too hungry anymore. So I'm ready to go." She said, after taking a deep breath. A smile was back on her lips, and she seemed focused. But her mind was flowing like a river with ideas of what Legacy she was apart of, and her grandmother, and other things. She then briefly wondered if Rodney was going to actually end up showing up at her house like he had promised her, and what his course of action would be when he found her missing.

Eva shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. It seemed to work for the moment, and she ran a hand though her hair. She grabbed her peach and threw it out, forgetting about the illusion for that moment, and remained standing. She looked to where Jareth was, "Before anyone else finds out? What's so special about this Legacy I'm in?"

Shortly after Eva finished her breakfast the duo headed out of doors and the house that Jareth had created seemed to quickly fade as if it had never been a solid place to begin with.

"Your legacy is one that could quite possibly reshape our world. Or at least bring about events that could drastically change it. You grandmother was apart of that and now so are you. I'm not going to pretend to have any idea what your destiny is Eva. But I do strongly feel that you'll serve a great purpose someday if you so choose. In some ways I envy you." For the moment Jareth was speaking with absolute sincerity as he lead them toward the edge of the lawn.

"For some of us personal choice is a costly luxury we can only gamble with at best. That's the other purpose people like your grandmother serve here. Occasionally they see and open up possibilities for those who haven't got an other alternatives regarding the paths they find themselves walking in life." When they got to the edge of the lawn where the hedges began Jareth had them pause as he produced a crystal orb in his good hand. Somewhere along the way Jareth had altered his appearance and was now wearing thin kid gloves that fastened at the inner wrist.

"Here. I want you to take this in case something happens and we get separated. to anyone else it's merely a crystal but if you hold it in your hand and roll it like this it will become whatever you need it to be in the moment that you need it. It can only be used once however so have a care." Jareth demonstrated how Eva needed to only roll the orb in a circular manner with her thumb to activate it before he held it out to her to take.

Eva followed Jareth out of the house, and looked back in time to watch the steps and door fade from existance. A small smirk appeared on her face as she watched the magic become undone. It looked as if nothing had ever been there, the blades of grass even standing tall and erect where the life-like illusion had been just moments before.

She was quiet and didn't inturrupt Jareth when he was speaking with her, she could hear the sincerity in his voice and she knew this wasn't an everyday occurence. She nodded here and there, where she agreed with him or showing that she understood. Eva breathed the air in deeply, and noticed they were nearing the edge of the lawn. She saw that Jareth had stopped, and she turned to him.

At first she noticed the gloves, even the slightest clothing change she managed to catch still amused her. However when the crystal was produced her amusement changed to awe at the sight. It may have been simple enough to the magic folk there, but Eva was still new to this and probably looked like a young child on her birthday with her face lit up like it was. She grinned, and carefully took the crystal from Jareth. She observed it quietly, and repeated the images in her head of how to activate it.

"Thank you Jareth." She looked up at him with a smile on her face, then back to the edge of the hedge.

In spite of his injury Jareth's pace was quick and purposeful as he began to lead them through the various twists and turns of the great maze. Where most people, even those who called the maze their home, had to stop now and again to check there bearings; Jareth seemed to maneuver the maze with an almost instinctual ease which occasionally put a fair amount of distance between them at times. It was clear Jareth was not accustomed to people tailing him and every now and then he would come to an abrupt stop and wait for Eva to catch up with him or back track to ensure she hadn't gotten lost. All of this, he did in abject silence with the exception of an occasional grunt.

Yet Jareth couldn't ignore the fact that he was injured and after an hour or so his focus did start to break down and his pace began to slow. Not alot, but enough to notice.

"Well have to stop if only for a little while." Jareth finally remarked as they approached a part of the maze that was less stone and more hedge. "Were about to enter a more dangerous part of the Labyrinth and I don't dare take you through it unless I'm better rested. We’re in a good place though. Another few hours and we should be able to cut around the long way to the part of the maze that boarder the enchanted forest. There’s a shorter way but it requires us to walk through a part of the Arid Flats and THAT is certainly somewhere we’d do best so completely avoid. Damn this shoulder! I should have known better than to turn my back before that harpy witch fully left my sight. And now I have no idea what’s going on in my own kingdom or who might be lurking at our heels. It’s bloody infuriating.”

Jareth sighed and tried to mentally center himself. It did little good to moan about his errors in judgment now and he knew it did absolutely nothing to better their situation. “You might as well come and sit in the shade of the wall for now. Once the double suns rise fully there won’t be any shadows to speak of. It’ll be important to enter the enchanted forest before dark. With any luck the white huntress will be alerted to our presence before we can get up to too much trouble in her domain.”

Taking his own advice Jareth neared the final stone wall that separated them from the hedge maze and gingerly slid down it so that he could sit in a curled position with his back supported.