You Remind Me Of. . .

"Sir, why are you so quiet. Last time you were excited about having a child in the castle."

Jareth stood up quickly, "Yes, but in case you haven't noticed, Holly isn't a child. She's close to being a woman and not to mention that she doesn't really want to go back to her parents."

"And what of it? Do you expect that every child be like Tobby?"

Jareth sighed and turned towards the window again he leaned against it as he produced a glass orb in his hand and began playing with it. "I just didn't expect that someone quite as beautiful nor mature would be held in my captivity. And quite so willingly.... It throws the balance off of the natural function of my labyrinth. Usually the child doesn't have a clue as to what is going on...."

"Perhaps you can speak to the girl and try scaring her into wanting to leave." said Gilly.

"I don't think that I can."

"Do you have feelings for the girl?"

Jareth stopped and stood once again, "Are you questioning me about my methods of captivation? Need I remind you that I am the Goblin King? I have the authority here, not you." said Jareth as he advanced menacingly on Gilly who backed up in fear.

Jareth groaned, "Just leave me while I dawdle in my thoughts. I shall be in my chamber if you need me." he said as he walked off to his quarters.

Sam felt like he had been running through circles when he finally decided to stop and catch his breath. "How in the hell did she do this before?"

"Is that a question?" asked a hispanic accented voice.

Sam turned and looked around, he didn't see anything. He flinched and yelled when he seen an old man with a long necked bird on his head. "What the..."

The old man just hummed to himself as he sat on a chair made of stones shaped into books.

"Excuse me, but can you help me find the way to the castle?"

The old man grunted as he looked up at Sam. "What was that? I'm afraid that I can't hear like I used to." he chuckled.

Sam sighed as he walked closer to the guy, "Do you know the way to the castle?"

"Well now, there was just a girl here a while ago asking the same thing..."

"Oi... That was years ago...." said the bird.

The man looked up at the bird. "What have I told you?"

"Sorry...."

"Anyway, as I was saying, I told the girl that sometimes when it seems like you're going nowhere you're actually going somewhere."

"Uhh.... Sure. Whatever. It's no use, I'll go through without your help." said Sam as he began running down a path again.

He just kept running and running through the meanderous path. He kept running until he came to a couple of doors.

"Damnit." He turned around and found that he was now blocked in. "What the..."

"You should just choose a door." said a voice behind him.

He looked at the doors and a couple of odd creatures stood in front of each door. One was red and the other was blue. Both had two heads at either end.

"First, you have to go through one of these doors. One leads straight to the castle and the other leads to certain death."

"So... which one should I choose?"

"You can only ask one of us. But be warned that one of us tells the truth and the other always lies."

"I tell the truth." said the red creature.

"What a liar! Don't listen to him." said the blue creature.

Sam sighed as he put his hands on his hips, he walked up to the blue creature, "Well answer this, If I were to ask him that his door leads to the castle and that he's indeed red, would he answer yes?"

"Uh... No?"

"That's it, I'm going through the red one." he said defiantley. He stood by as the creature moved and allowed him to go through the door.

Jareth sat looking out his window when he heard a knock on his door. "Your majesty! The man is making his way to the castle."

"Well, set up a diversion of some sort. Just don't let him get here quite yet." said Jareth as he stood up and looked inside one of the crystals.

"Well, she does have his eyes. But she's as beautiful as her mother." he said to himself.

He heard another knock on the door, "What is it?" he asked as he set the crystal down.

"It's me.... I wanna talk to you." said Holly.

Jareth stood still and sighed. "Come in."

Holly quietly entered his room and looked around. It was pretty sparce, but was decorated in black and dark violet satin.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I wanted to apologize for yelling at you. You're right. I should pay attention to the finer details. And I guess that you're not that horrible. In fact, you're pretty amazing. Coming up with this labyrinth and having people go through it while teaching them how to pay attention to the little things that could help them out in life..."

"Actually, I'm not the amazing one. My forefathers were. They were the ones that started this labyrinth. I was just the last one left to run this." he said as he continued looking out the window.

Holly sighed, "So where's your wife?"

Jareth turned and looked at her, "I don't have one."

"Why not?"

"Come on... Just like you said, they all think that I'm this horrible monster."

"So how did your family get started?"

"Well, sometimes a child isn't rescue in time and they're turned into Goblins. Most are named the Goblin Prince."

"Is how you got here?"

"No, my father was able to have a partner. Of course she was under a spell, but it lifted as soon as I was born. So I never got the chance to meet her." said Jareth.

Holly sighed, "Well, I think that you're lucky. My parents are so different. My father lives completely in a corporate world while my mother still believes in faerie tales. Neither have been able to completely understand where I come from." said Holly as she sat down on the bed.

Jareth turned and looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"I'm the middle ground. While I know that the world can be a scary place, I embrace it. I live life like there is no tomorrow. And the hardships that come my way, that's how my life should be. That's how the world works and I can't do anything to change that. So I should just accept it." said Holly as she began playing with the end of her shirt.

Jareth felt that flame that lit earlier grow. His heart swelled with pain, here she was. The woman that he had been waiting for, yet she was just a mere child. Someone that probably wouldn't take an interest in him. Everything that she had told him in the six hours that she had been in here was everything that he hoped he would hear. If only she were just a bit older, then he would propose that she stay with him.

Holly blushed, "I know that you might think that's gay...."

"No, quite the opposite." he said with a slight smile tugging at his lips.

Holly looked up at him, "I wish that I could meet someone like you back in my world." she said airily.